ECONOMICS AND SCHIZOPHRENIA - THE REAL COST

L M Davies; M F Drummond

ECONOMICS AND SCHIZOPHRENIA - THE REAL COST

Centre for Health Economics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The total direct cost of treating schizophrenia in the UK is pound 397 million, or 1.64% of the total health care budget. Hospital-based and community-based residential care accounts for nearly three-quarters of these costs, while drugs account for only 5%. A conservative estimate of the indirect annual costs of lost production is in the region of pound 1.7 billion. The heterogeneity of the disease and its outcome means that average treatment costs per person with schizophrenia should be treated with caution: 97% of direct costs are incurred by less than half the patients. Therefore, treatments which reduce the dependence and disability of those most severely affected by schizophrenia are likely to have a large effect on the total cost of the disease to society and may therefore be cost-effective, even though they appear expensive initially.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	18-21
Number of pages	4
Journal	British Journal of Psychiatry
Volume	165
Publication status	Published - Nov 1994

Keywords

NORTHWICK PARK
1ST EPISODES

Cite this

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title = "ECONOMICS AND SCHIZOPHRENIA - THE REAL COST",

abstract = "The total direct cost of treating schizophrenia in the UK is pound 397 million, or 1.64% of the total health care budget. Hospital-based and community-based residential care accounts for nearly three-quarters of these costs, while drugs account for only 5%. A conservative estimate of the indirect annual costs of lost production is in the region of pound 1.7 billion. The heterogeneity of the disease and its outcome means that average treatment costs per person with schizophrenia should be treated with caution: 97% of direct costs are incurred by less than half the patients. Therefore, treatments which reduce the dependence and disability of those most severely affected by schizophrenia are likely to have a large effect on the total cost of the disease to society and may therefore be cost-effective, even though they appear expensive initially.",

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N2 - The total direct cost of treating schizophrenia in the UK is pound 397 million, or 1.64% of the total health care budget. Hospital-based and community-based residential care accounts for nearly three-quarters of these costs, while drugs account for only 5%. A conservative estimate of the indirect annual costs of lost production is in the region of pound 1.7 billion. The heterogeneity of the disease and its outcome means that average treatment costs per person with schizophrenia should be treated with caution: 97% of direct costs are incurred by less than half the patients. Therefore, treatments which reduce the dependence and disability of those most severely affected by schizophrenia are likely to have a large effect on the total cost of the disease to society and may therefore be cost-effective, even though they appear expensive initially.

AB - The total direct cost of treating schizophrenia in the UK is pound 397 million, or 1.64% of the total health care budget. Hospital-based and community-based residential care accounts for nearly three-quarters of these costs, while drugs account for only 5%. A conservative estimate of the indirect annual costs of lost production is in the region of pound 1.7 billion. The heterogeneity of the disease and its outcome means that average treatment costs per person with schizophrenia should be treated with caution: 97% of direct costs are incurred by less than half the patients. Therefore, treatments which reduce the dependence and disability of those most severely affected by schizophrenia are likely to have a large effect on the total cost of the disease to society and may therefore be cost-effective, even though they appear expensive initially.

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JO - British Journal of Psychiatry

JF - British Journal of Psychiatry

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