title: Hospital treatment, mortality and healthcare costs in relation to socioeconomic status among people with bipolar affective disorder.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Evidence regarding the relationships between the socioeconomic status and long-term outcomes of individuals with bipolar affective disorder (BPD) is lacking.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We aimed to estimate the effects of baseline socioeconomic status on longitudinal outcomes.
  
  
  METHODS
  A national cohort of adult participants with newly diagnosed BPD was identified in 2008. The effects of personal and household socioeconomic status were explored on outcomes of hospital treatment, mortality and healthcare costs, over a 3-year follow-up period (2008-2011).
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 7987 participants were recruited. The relative risks of hospital treatment and mortality were found elevated for the ones from low-income households who also had higher healthcare costs. Low premium levels did not correlate with future healthcare costs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Socioeconomic deprivation is associated with poorer outcome and higher healthcare costs in BPD patients. Special care should be given to those with lower socioeconomic status to improve outcomes with potential benefits of cost savings in the following years.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  None.
  © 2016 The Royal College of Psychiatrists. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Non-Commercial, No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) licence.
authors.affiliation: , MD, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Memorial Hospital, New Taipei City, Taiwan, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yi-Ju
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: , PhD, Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ling-Ling
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Yeh
authors.affiliation: , MD, PhD, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, Department of Medical Research and Education, National Yang-Ming University Hospital, Yilan City, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yu-Chun
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: , MD, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Kuei-Hong
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Kuo
authors.affiliation: , PhD, Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College London (Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience), London, UK.
authors.forename: Chin-Kuo
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Chang