Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the Armed Forces: health economic considerations.
This paper addresses the use of health economics in relation to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the Armed Forces, with a view to assessing the feasibility of carrying out future evaluative studies. Although psychological and pharmacological interventions can be used to treat PTSD, no economic evaluations are known to exist. There is an economic burden associated with PTSD, and treatments require the use of scarce resources. Health economics provides tools (including cost-effectiveness, cost-benefit, and cost-utility analyses) to ascertain the relative efficiency of different treatment options. The paper concludes that the quality of life and resource consequences of PTSD require a better understanding of the economics of the disorder and the alternative ways to treat it.
Centre for the Economics of Mental Health, Health Services Research Department, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, United Kingdom. p.mccrone@iop.kcl.ac.uk
Paul
P
McCrone
Martin
M
Knapp
Paul
P
Cawkill
D017281:Cost of Illness; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006296:Health Services / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000191:economics* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy