CG123 Common mental health disorders - National Institute for ...

Common mental health disordersOther intangible costs of illness include the impact on the quality of life of peoplewith depression and their families and carers. Certainly, the cost-of-illness calculationspresented here and in Table 2 show that depression imposes a significant burdenon individuals and their families and carers, the healthcare system and the broadereconomy through lost productivity and workplace absenteeism. Furthermore, it isanticipated that these costs will continue to rise significantly in future years.Therefore, it is important that the efficient use of available healthcare resources isused to maximise health benefits for people with depression.Costs of anxiety disordersAnxiety disorders place a significant burden on individuals as well as on thehealthcare system. Although direct comparisons between studies are difficult tomake due to variations in country, health services and year of interest, economiccost has been estimated at over US$40 billion (Andlin-Sobocki et al., 2005; seeTable 2 for further information). Estimated costs are incurred by healthcareresource utilisation such as mental health services, medication, hospitalisation,nursing homes and outpatient visits, productivity losses and, to a lesser extent, byprovision of other services such as criminal justice services, social welfare administrationand incarceration, as well as family care-giving (0.8%) (Andlin-Sobockiet al., 2005).Total healthcare cost is not the only important outcome to consider when investigatingcost. Marciniak and colleagues (2005) found that the total medical cost perperson with any anxiety disorder was estimated at US$6,475 in 1999. More specifically,when looking at GAD alone, the figure increased to US$2,138 when controllingfor demographics and other disease states. This increased cost may be due tofactors such as increased outpatient mental health service use or medical specialistservice use. Furthermore, people with anxiety tend to miss more days of work or havea short-term disability than controls (Marciniak et al., 2004).Anxiety disorders are associated with a wide range of comorbidities, whichresult in a substantial increase in the total healthcare costs. Souêtre and colleagues(1994) estimated the total direct and indirect costs incurred by people with GADwith and without comorbidities using data on 999 people participating in a Frenchcross-sectional study. Controlling for confounding variables, the prevalence ofhealthcare utilisation in terms of hospitalisation, laboratory tests and medications,and the respective medical costs were found to be significantly higher inpeople with GAD and other comorbidities than those without comorbidities.Moreover, comorbidities were associated with increased absenteeism from work.In particular, comorbid depression (Marciniak et al., 2005; Wetherell et al., 2007;Zhu et al., 2009) and physical pain (Olfson & Gameroff, 2007; Zhu et al., 2009)have been found to have a significant impact on treatment costs incurred by peoplewith GAD.Costs of post-traumatic stress disorderIn 2003 to 2004, social and welfare costs of claims for incapacitation and severedisablement from severe stress and PTSD amounted to £103 million, which is29