title: The burden of disease among adolescents with personality pathology: quality of life and costs.
abstract: In adults, personality disorders are associated with a low quality of life and high societal costs. To explore whether these findings also apply to adolescents, 131 adolescent patients were recruited from a mental health care institute in The Netherlands. Axis I and Axis II disorders were diagnosed using semi-structured interviews. The EuroQol EQ-5D was used to measure quality of life and costs were measured by the Trimbos and Institute for Medical Technology Assessment Questionnaire on Costs Associated with Psychiatric Illness. The mean EQ-5D index value was 0.55. The mean direct medical cost in the year prior to treatment was €14,032 per patient. The co-occurrence of Axis I and Axis II disorders was a significant predictor of a low quality of life. Direct medical costs were higher for the depressive personality disorder. This study shows that the burden of disease among adolescents with personality pathology is high. This high burden provides evidence to suggest that further research and development of (cost-)effective treatment strategies for this population may be worthwhile.
authors.affiliation: Viersprong Institute for Studies on Personality Disorders (VISPD), P.O. Box 7 4660 AA Halsteren, The Netherlands. dineke.feenstra@deviersprong.nl
authors.forename: Dine J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Feenstra
authors.forename: Joost
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hutsebaut
authors.forename: Elisabeth M P
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Laurenssen
authors.forename: Roel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Verheul
authors.forename: Jan J V
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Busschbach
authors.forename: Djøra I
authors.initials: DI
authors.lastname: Soeteman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009426:Netherlands; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*