91探花

Many people in the United States have multiple common chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease, which complicate their health care needs. When depression coexists with diabetes, heart disease, or both, health outcomes are often less favorable.

In a randomized controlled trial, testing a primary care intervention called TEAMcare, nurses worked with patients and health teams to manage care for depression and physical disease together, using evidence-based guidelines. The result for patients: less depression, and better control of blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol and improved quality of life.

Researchers at the 91探花 (UW) and published their findings in the December 30, 2010 New England Journal of Medicine.

“Depressed patients with multiple uncontrolled chronic diseases are at high risk of heart attack, stroke and other complications,鈥� said , a 91探花professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and an affiliate investigator at Group Health Research Institute. “We are excited about finding a new way to help patients control these chronic diseases, including depression. Then they can get back to enjoying what makes their lives worth living,鈥� he said.

Depression is common in patients with diabetes and heart disease. It has been linked to worse self-management and more complications and deaths. Depression can make people feel helpless and hopeless about managing other chronic diseases. In turn, coping with chronic disease can worsen depression. This tangle of health problems can feel overwhelming for patients, their families and their health care providers.

To explore possible solutions, the trial focused on 214 patients who were randomly assigned to either standard care or the TEAMcare intervention. In the TEAMcare intervention, a nurse care manager coached each patient, monitored disease control and depression, and worked with the patients primary care doctors to make changes in medications and lifestyle when treatment goals were not reached.

To reach these goals, the nurse regularly monitored the patients mental and physical health. Based on guidelines that promoted incremental improvements, the care team offered recommendations to the patients primary-care doctor to consider changes to the dose or type of medication used for managing blood pressure, blood sugar, lipids or depression. This process is called “treating to target.鈥�

Katon said that the “treating to target鈥� approach helped boost patients confidence as goals were accomplished. “It reverses what happens when they set overly ambitious goals they dont reach, which discourages them, their families, and health care providers.鈥�

At one year鈥攃ompared with the standard care control group鈥攑atients with the TEAMcare intervention were significantly less depressed and also had improved levels of blood glucose, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and systolic blood pressure. These differences are clinically significant, particularly if achieved in large numbers of patients, Katon said.

“Each of these four disease control measures has been linked to higher risks of complications and deaths from diabetes and heart disease,鈥� he added.

The researchers have not yet completed their analysis of possible cost savings from the intervention, but they estimated that the two-year TEAMcare intervention cost $1,224 per patient, on average. This is for patients whose medical care costs health care systems approximately $10,000 per year, said Katon.

TEAMcare intervention patients reported enhanced quality of life and satisfaction with care for depression and either diabetes, heart disease or both. Patients were more likely to have timely adjustment of glucose levels, high blood pressure, cholesterol and antidepressant medications.

“TEAMcare is a truly patient-centered approach that enhances a primary care team to deliver optimal care for both physical and mental health in a seamless manner,鈥� said co-author , Group Health family physician and an affiliate investigator at Group Health Research Institute. 听“It recognizes there can be no health without mental health.鈥�

This trial is the culmination of more than 25 years of collaboration between the 91探花and Group Health to improve care for patients with chronic diseases including depression in everyday primary care settings.

Other co-authors were: of the 91探花School of Medicines Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and an affiliate investigator at Group Health Research Institute; , of the 91探花School of Medicines Department of Medicine and Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care; , and Mary McGregor of Group Health Research Institute; of Group Health Research Institute and the Department of Biostatistics of the 91探花School of Public Health; and David McCulloch of Group Health.

The National Institute of Mental Health funded the TEAMcare trial, with institutional support from Group Health Cooperative.

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91探花Medicine

includes 91探花Medical Center, Harborview Medical Center, Northwest Hospital, the 91探花School of Medicine, 91探花Medicine Neighborhood Clinics, 91探花Physicians, Airlift Northwest, and the UW’s partnership in the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance with Seattle Children’s and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. 91探花Medicine has major academic and service affiliations with Seattle Childrens Hospital, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System in Seattle and the VA Hospital in Boise. The 91探花School of Medicine is the top public institution for biomedical research in funding received from the National Institutes of Health. For more information about 91探花Medicine, visit

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Group Health Research Institute
Founded in 1947, is a Seattle-based, consumer-governed, nonprofit health care system. changed its name from Group Health Center for Health Studies on September 8, 2009. Since 1983, the Institute has conducted nonproprietary public-interest research on preventing, diagnosing, and treating major health problems. Government and private research grants p
rovide its main funding.