Charles Laidi1, Amélie Prigent2, Alice Plas2, Marion Leboyer1, Guillaume Fond3, Karine Chevreul4. 1. Inserm, U955, Institut Mondor de la Recherche Biomédicale, Psychiatrie Translationnelle, Créteil, France; Fondation Fondamental, Créteil, France; Pôle de Psychiatrie, AP-HP, Faculté de Médecine de Créteil, DHU PePsy, Hôpitaux Universitaires Henri Mondor, France; AP-HP, URC Eco Ile-de-France, Paris F-75004, France. 2. AP-HP, URC Eco Ile-de-France, Paris F-75004, France; University Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, ECEVE, UMRS 1123, Paris F-75010, France. 3. Fondation Fondamental, Créteil, France. 4. AP-HP, URC Eco Ile-de-France, Paris F-75004, France; University Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, ECEVE, UMRS 1123, Paris F-75010, France; Inserm, ECEVE, U1123, Paris, F-75010, France. AP-HP, Robert-Debré University Hospital, Department of Public Health, Paris F-75019, France. Electronic address: karine.chevreul@urc-eco.fr.
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: There is a lack of data on health care consumption of patients suffering from schizophrenia, as well as on the related health care costs. Factors associated with health care costs have not been widely studied, whereas knowledge on this topic would allow identifying risk factors and delineating strategies to improve patients' health and follow-up, likely to also decrease health care costs. The aim of this study was to estimate the average direct health care cost of patients with schizophrenia in France and to identify the factors associated with this cost. METHODS: The study population included patients with schizophrenia enrolled in the FondaMental Advanced Centers of Expertise for Schizophrenia cohort. We accounted for the costs directly related to the treatment of schizophrenia. They included the costs of hospitalizations (full- and part-time), psychiatric ambulatory consultations and medications. We studied three categories of factors potentially associated with direct health care costs: demographic, socioeconomic and clinical characteristics. RESULTS: Three hundred and ninety five patients with schizophrenia were included. The mean (median) annual direct health care cost per patient amounted to €14,995 (€3,435). A lower level of functioning and being single were associated with a higher cost. A significant association between the expert center of inclusion and the direct health care cost of schizophrenia was also highlighted. CONCLUSION: Our results highlighted the significant cost of schizophrenia and suggest that improvement in patient care, based on well-validated targeted therapeutic interventions such as psycho-education and cognitive rehabilitation, could reduce worsening in symptom severity and therefore decrease health care costs.
INTRODUCTION: There is a lack of data on health care consumption of patients suffering from schizophrenia, as well as on the related health care costs. Factors associated with health care costs have not been widely studied, whereas knowledge on this topic would allow identifying risk factors and delineating strategies to improve patients' health and follow-up, likely to also decrease health care costs. The aim of this study was to estimate the average direct health care cost of patients with schizophrenia in France and to identify the factors associated with this cost. METHODS: The study population included patients with schizophrenia enrolled in the FondaMental Advanced Centers of Expertise for Schizophrenia cohort. We accounted for the costs directly related to the treatment of schizophrenia. They included the costs of hospitalizations (full- and part-time), psychiatric ambulatory consultations and medications. We studied three categories of factors potentially associated with direct health care costs: demographic, socioeconomic and clinical characteristics. RESULTS: Three hundred and ninety five patients with schizophrenia were included. The mean (median) annual direct health care cost per patient amounted to €14,995 (€3,435). A lower level of functioning and being single were associated with a higher cost. A significant association between the expert center of inclusion and the direct health care cost of schizophrenia was also highlighted. CONCLUSION: Our results highlighted the significant cost of schizophrenia and suggest that improvement in patient care, based on well-validated targeted therapeutic interventions such as psycho-education and cognitive rehabilitation, could reduce worsening in symptom severity and therefore decrease health care costs.