Can Adding Mindful Yoga to Standard Treatment Help Young Women with Depression?

What you need to know

• Adding mindful yoga to usual depression treatment for young women may be cost-effective.
• The yoga group had lower overall costs, mainly due to less missed work.
• While health improvements were small, combining costs and outcomes suggests yoga is likely beneficial.

Background on depression and treatment

Depression is a common mental health condition that affects many people, especially young women. It can cause significant suffering and also leads to high costs for society, both in healthcare expenses and lost work productivity. While there are effective treatments available, such as medication and psychotherapy, researchers are always looking for ways to improve treatment outcomes and reduce costs.

One approach that has shown promise is adding complementary treatments to standard care. Mindful yoga, which combines physical postures, breathing exercises, and meditation, may be particularly appealing and helpful for young women with depression.

What did the researchers do?

The researchers conducted a study with 171 young women (ages 18-34) who had been diagnosed with major depressive disorder. The women were randomly divided into two groups:

1. Treatment as usual (TAU): Standard depression care, which typically includes medication and/or psychotherapy
2. Mindful yoga intervention plus TAU (MYITAU): Standard care plus a 9-week mindful yoga program

The yoga program consisted of weekly 90-minute group sessions led by a trained instructor. Participants were also encouraged to practice at home using online videos.

The researchers tracked the participants’ depression symptoms, quality of life, and healthcare costs over 15 months. They then analyzed whether adding yoga was cost-effective compared to usual treatment alone.

Understanding cost-effectiveness

When researchers look at cost-effectiveness, they’re trying to determine if the benefits of a treatment are worth the costs. This involves considering both the improvements in health and the overall expenses.

In this study, the researchers looked at:

• Healthcare costs (e.g., doctor visits, medications)
• Other societal costs (e.g., lost work productivity)
• Depression symptoms (measured by a questionnaire)
• Quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) - a measure that combines quantity and quality of life

What did they find?

Costs

• The total costs over 15 months were lower in the yoga group:
  • MYITAU group: €11,966 per person
  • TAU group: €13,818 per person
• The biggest difference was in costs related to missed work (productivity loss):
  • MYITAU group: €3,105 per person
  • TAU group: €4,464 per person

Health outcomes

• Both groups showed some improvement in depression symptoms and quality of life.
• The differences between groups were small and not statistically significant.

Cost-effectiveness

When the researchers combined the cost and health information:

• There was a high probability (75-78%) that adding yoga was cost-effective compared to usual treatment alone.
• This conclusion held up even when the researchers adjusted for different factors in their analysis.

What does this mean?

While adding mindful yoga to usual depression treatment didn’t lead to significantly better mental health outcomes in this study, it may still be beneficial from an economic perspective. The lower overall costs, mainly due to less missed work, suggest that yoga could be a worthwhile addition to depression treatment for young women.

It’s important to note that the yoga program itself was relatively inexpensive (about €179 per person). This means that even small health improvements or cost savings in other areas can make it cost-effective.

Limitations to consider

• The study only included young women, so the results may not apply to other groups.
• The researchers couldn’t definitively prove that yoga caused the lower costs - other factors might have played a role.
• Some participants dropped out of the study, which could affect the results.

Conclusions

• Adding mindful yoga to usual depression treatment for young women may be cost-effective.
• The main benefit seems to be reduced costs from less missed work, rather than large improvements in depression symptoms.
• More research is needed to confirm these findings and see if they apply to other groups of people with depression.

While this study doesn’t prove that yoga is a cure for depression, it suggests it could be a helpful addition to standard treatment, potentially benefiting both individuals and society by reducing overall costs.