One year of health and social services for adolescents with Down's syndrome. A calculation of costs in a representative area of Denmark.

The costs of the public health and social security system supporting adolescents 14-20 years old with Down's syndrome (DS) over 1 year (1985) were investigated in the county of Aarhus, representing about 10% of the Danish population. Seventy-eight percent of the probands lived in private homes; the rest were institutionalized. No controls lived in an institution. The average yearly price of a DS adolescent living in a private home was Dkr 217,194 (US$ 24,213 or Br.pounds 6,811). If the DS individual was institutionalized, the amount was Dkr 383,271 (US$ 42,728 or Br.pounds 29,665). The average yearly price for a control was: Dkr 33,352 (US$ 3,718 or Br.pounds 2,581).