title: Prevalence, Employment Rate, and Cost of Schizophrenia in a High-Income Welfare Society: A Population-Based Study Using Comprehensive Health and Welfare Registers.
abstract: Schizophrenia is associated with recurrent hospitalizations, need for long-term community support, poor social functioning, and low employment rates. Despite the wide- ranging financial and social burdens associated with the illness, there is great uncertainty regarding prevalence, employment rates, and the societal costs of schizophrenia. The current study investigates 12-month prevalence of patients treated for schizophrenia, employment rates, and cost of schizophrenia using a population-based top-down approach. Data were obtained from comprehensive and mandatory health and welfare registers in Norway. We identified a 12-month prevalence of 0.17% for the entire population. The employment rate among working-age individuals was 10.24%. The societal costs for the 12-month period were USD 890 million. The average cost per individual with schizophrenia was USD 106 thousand. Inpatient care and lost productivity due to high unemployment represented 33% and 29%, respectively, of the total costs. The use of mandatory health and welfare registers enabled a unique and informative analysis on true population-based datasets.
authors.affiliation: Department of Research, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway; stig.evensen@medisin.uio.no.
authors.forename: Stig
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Evensen
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Health Economics, Oslo Centre for Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway;
authors.forename: Torbjørn
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wisløff
authors.affiliation: Department of Research, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway;
authors.forename: June Ullevoldsæter
authors.initials: JU
authors.lastname: Lystad
authors.affiliation: Department of Research, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway;
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bull
authors.affiliation: Department of Research, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway; Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway;
authors.forename: Torill
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ueland
authors.affiliation: Department of Research, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway; Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Falkum
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004651:Employment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009664:Norway / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012042:Registries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology; D012946:Social Welfare / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: cost-of-illness; employment; prevalence; schizophrenia