Depression is a common psychiatric disorder, with the prevalence for major depression in Europe of around 5%. Depression is the fourth leading cause of disease burden worldwide. The high disease burden is reflected in the morbidity and mortality associated with the condition, in reduced functioning and well-being and in impaired quality of life. Although the efficacy of antidepressant medications are well established, their effectiveness in improving a broad range of outcomes is less clear.

Because European countries differ in their healthcare systems and practice settings for treating depression, a multinational study was initiated to examine the influence of patient and non-patient factors on quality of life outcomes in depression.

Factors Influencing Depression Endpoints Research (FINDER) is a large prospective 6-month observational study conducted in 12 European countries that investigates health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in depressed outpatients in routine primary and specialist care settings receiving standard antidepressant pharmacological treatment, and aims to assess the association of different factors such as patient demographics or reporting of previous psychiatric disorders with the patients' HRQOL.

Data from 3468 patients enrolled by 437 investigators were eligible for analysis. The objectives of this presentation are to describe the background and study design of FINDER.

Michael Bauer (Germany), Nicolas Dantchev (France), Koen Demytteneare (Belgium), Ana Garcia-Cebrian (UK), Luigi Grassi (Italy), Angel Luis Montejo (Spain), Brigitta Monz (Germany), David Perahia (UK), Deborah Quail (UK), Catherine Reed (UK), Andre Tylee (UK).

Eli Lilly and Company Limited & Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH