Cost of schizophrenia: direct costs and use of resources in the State of São Paulo.
OBJECTIVE
To estimate the direct costs of schizophrenia for the public sector.


METHODS
A study was carried out in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, during 1998. Data from the medical literature and governmental research bodies were gathered for estimating the total number of schizophrenia patients covered by the Brazilian Unified Health System. A decision tree was built based on an estimated distribution of patients under different types of psychiatric care. Medical charts from public hospitals and outpatient services were used to estimate the resources used over a one-year period. Direct costs were calculated by attributing monetary values for each resource used.


RESULTS
Of all patients, 81.5% were covered by the public sector and distributed as follows: 6.0% in psychiatric hospital admissions, 23.0% in outpatient care, and 71.0% without regular treatment. The total direct cost of schizophrenia was US $191,781,327 (2.2% of the total health care expenditure in the state). Of this total, 11.0% was spent on outpatient care and 79.2% went for inpatient care.


CONCLUSIONS
Most schizophrenia patients in the state of São Paulo receive no regular treatment. The study findings point out to the importance of investing in research aimed at improving the resource allocation for the treatment of mental disorders in Brazil.
Departamento de Psiquiatria, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Rua Borges Lagoa 1080 sala 1407, 04038-032 São Paulo, SP, Brazil. raquelleitao@uol.com.br
Raquel Jales
RJ
Leitão
Marcos Bosi
MB
Ferraz
Ana Cristina
AC
Chaves
Jair J
JJ
Mari
D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006295:Health Resources / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D017150:Public Sector / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy