In-patient care costs of patients with bipolar I disorder: a comparison between two European centers.

BACKGROUND

Bipolar disorder (BPD) is a disabling disease with high morbidity rates. An international (Spain, France) comparative study about hospitalizations and in-patient care costs associated with BPD I was performed. Centers were included if they had access to a database of computerized patient charts exhaustively covering a defined catchment area.

METHODS

Economic evaluation was performed by multiplying the average cumulated annual length of stay (LOS) of hospitalized bipolar patients by a full cost per day of hospitalization in each center to obtain the corresponding annual costs.

RESULTS

Hospitalization rates per annum and per 100,000 individuals (general population aged 15+) were similar between France (43.6) and Spain (43.1). There were only slight differences in relation to length of stay (LOS) per patient hospitalized with 18.1 days in Spain and 20.4 days in France. The overall estimated annual hospitalization costs were in the same order of magnitude after adjustment to an adult population of 100,000: euro 232,000 (Spain) and euro 226,500 (France). Mixed episodes had the longest LOS followed by depressive episodes, while manic episodes had the shortest ones. Mania was the most costly disorder representing 53.7% of annual BPD in-patient care costs.

CONCLUSIONS

BPD I care requires large resources and frequent hospitalizations, especially during manic episodes. Depressive and mixed episodes require longer hospital stays than manic episodes. Out-patient costs should now be evaluated.