Cost-benefit analysis of prospective pharmacokinetic dosing of nortriptyline in depressed inpatients.

A retrospective chart review was conducted on depressed inpatients to determine the economic impact of prospective pharmacokinetic dosing vs. empirical dosing of tricyclic antidepressants. The benefit/cost ratio of 2.5 indicated that the benefits of prospective dosing more than doubled the cost. The prospectively dose patients were discharged significantly earlier, i.e. 6.1 days than the empirically dosed patients and they also returned to work significantly earlier, i.e. 55.4 days than the control group.