A research report aims to estimate the lower, middle and upper bounds of potential demand for psilocybin-assisted therapy.
As many as 62% of U.S. patients with depression could be eligible for psilocybin-assisted therapy, according to a research report.
Published in Psychedelics: The Journal of Psychedelic Pharmacology, the research seeks to estimate the lower, middle and upper bounds of potential demand for psilocybin-assisted therapy, or PSIL-AT, in patients with major depressive disorder or treatment-resistant depression.
In the report, the lower-bound, mid-range and upper-bound estimates represent different levels of strictness in defining who would qualify for PSIL-AT.
In the upper-bound estimate –the most inclusive approach in the range – 62% of the patient population is eligible for PSIL-AT, which translates to 5.6 million individuals with major depressive disorder and 1.7 million with treatment-resistant depression, according to the report.
In the mid-range estimate, 56% of patients with depression are eligible for psilocybin-assisted therapy, with translates to 5.1 million people with major depressive disorder and 1.5 million people with treatment-resistant depression.
The lower-bound estimate indicates that only 24% of patients with depression – 2.2 million patients – would meet strict clinical-trial exclusion criteria for PSIL-AT.
“Variance was largely influenced by the removal of alcohol and substance-use disorders as exclusion criteria, as well as removing the double counting from comorbid psychiatric and cardiovascular conditions,” the authors note in the report.
The analysis produced a 95% confidence interval, according to the authors. A confidence interval is a range around an estimate that indicates where the true value is likely to fall, accounting for some uncertainty.
The research underscores the “public-health implications” of providing PSIL-AT for major depressive disorder and treatment-resistant depression, “emphasizing that the effective demand will be shaped by insurance coverage, state-level regulations and the availability of trained providers,” the authors assert. “These findings suggest the need for careful policy planning and resource allocation to ensure equitable access and effective implementation of PSIL-AT across diverse populations and regions.”