A comparison of health-care costs involved in treating people with and without Parkinson's disease in Southern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Twelve community-dwelling subjects with Parkinson's disease (PD) and 12 age-matched healthy controls completed a 3-month diary of health-care utilisation in Sydney, Australia. The mean age for the PD group was 71.3 years (SD 5.9, range 62-82 years) versus 73.2 years (SD 6.7, range 63-83 years) for the control group. The mean disease duration of the PD group was 6.8 years (SD 3.6, range 2-14 years). The median Hoehn and Yahr stage was 3 (range 1-3). The mean 3-month total (both related and 'unrelated' to PD) health-care cost for the PD group was significantly higher than that for the 'healthy' control group (1,755 Australian dollars, SD 1,201 versus 413 Australian dollars, SD 515, P=0.001). Medication was the most costly component for both groups (PD 636 Australian dollars, SD 226 versus controls 175 Australian dollars, SD 233, P<0.001) followed by general practitioner or specialist medical expenses (PD 564 Australian dollars, SD 670 versus controls 205 Australian dollars, SD 397, p=0.12) and allied health-care costs (PD 323 Australian dollars, SD 178 versus controls 21 Australian dollars, SD 43, p<0.001). In the PD subgroup, the health-care costs attributed to PD during the 3-month period were significantly higher than health-care costs 'unrelated' to PD (1,202 Australian dollars, SD 820 versus 553 Australian dollars, SD 591, p=0.03). On subgroup analysis, allied health-care costs (related to PD) achieved statistical significance (304 Australian dollars, SD 180 versus 19 Australian dollars, SD 19, p<0.0001), whereas medication and general practitioner or specialist costs did not. In conclusion, we found that the total direct health-care cost of PD for patients with Hoehn and Yahr stage 3 was four times that of age- and sex-matched 'healthy' controls. The estimated annual cost (7,020 Australian dollars per patient) in our patient cohort was comparable to that reported in the United States and Europe.
Cordato
Dennis John
DJ
Southern Neurology, Suite 7E, Level 5, St George Private Hospital, 1 South St, Kogarah, New South Wales 2217, Australia. dcordato@southern-neurology.com.au
Schwartz
Raymond
R
Abbott
Elizabeth
E
Saunders
Rowena
R
Morfis
Litsa
L
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires