Effectiveness and Cost-Effectiveness of Depression Treatment for Individuals With TB in South Africa

TB and depression are the leading infectious cause of death and the leading cause of disability, respectively. Furthermore, they are commonly co-occurring and negatively synergistic. TB and depression comorbidity is associated with a 2.85 greater chance of death and 8.70 higher risk for loss to follow up (LTFU) from treatment, which has a cascade of negative individual-, community-, societal-, and health system-level implications. As a treatable condition, depression is a remediable driver of the TB epidemic. The WHO has called for a global policy framework for TB and mental health integration, recommending brief psychological interventions to address mental disorders in primary care settings. Interpersonal counseling (IPC) is a brief version of one such evidence-based intervention that has demonstrated efficacy and effectiveness in treating depression when delivered by non-mental health specialists, including in South Africa. The purpose of this study is to assess the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of integrating IPC (for depression) into the TB care platform to improve TB and depression outcomes, as well as mitigate TB-related catastrophic costs. As the country with the highest TB burden in the world, nearly 60% of whom are co-infected with HIV, South Africa is the ideal setting for this study. This 3-year hybrid type I effectiveness-implementation trial will be implemented in eight clinics (n\~1410 individuals with TB/depression) in the Eastern and Western Capes of South Africa to integrate IPC to treat depression comorbidity within the TB care platform with the following aims: Aim 1) To evaluate the effectiveness and implementation outcomes of integrating IPC treatment for depression into the existing TB care platform to improve TB and depression outcomes; Aim 2) To determine the influence of theoretically based intervention mediators and moderators on TB treatment outcomes; Aim 3) To assess the cost-effectiveness of integrating depression treatment into the TB care platform from the patient and health system perspectives. This research will provide critical clinical, programmatic, and economic data to inform the WHO global policy framework for TB and mental health integration, and cost-effective clinical practice to improve TB outcomes, especially in low-resource settings. Recruitment was temporarily paused on September 1, 2024 due to an interruption in funding.