Cost-effectiveness of internet-based cognitive behavior therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder: results from a randomized controlled trial

• This study investigated whether internet-based CBT (ICBT) is a cost-effective treatment.
• One hundred and one patients were randomized to either ICBT or to an active control condition.
• Results showed that ICBT produced an additional remission to a relatively low price.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a common and disabling disorder. Although evidence-based psychological treatments exists, such as cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), the cost-effectiveness of CBT has not been properly investigated. In this trial, we used health economic data from a recently conducted randomized controlled trial, where 101 OCD patients were allocated to either internet-based CBT (ICBT) or control condition (online support therapy). We analyzed treatment effectiveness in relation to costs, using both a societal- (including all direct and indirect costs) and a health care unit perspective (including only the direct treatment costs). Bootstrapped net benefit regression analyses were also conducted, comparing the difference in costs and effects between ICBT and control condition, with different willingness-to-pay scenarios. Results showed that ICBT produced one additional remission for an average societal cost of $931 and this figure was even lower ($672) when narrowing the perspective to treatment costs only. The cost-utility analysis also showed that ICBT generated one additional QALY to an average price of $7186 from a societal perspective and $4800 when just analyzing the treatment costs. We conclude that ICBT is a cost-effective treatment and the next step in this line of research is to compare the cost-effectiveness of ICBT with face-to-face CBT.