Annual cost of managing bipolar disorder to the UK healthcare system.

INTRODUCTION

Bipolar disorder is a common illness characterized by recurrent episodes of pathological disturbances of mood. The aim of this study was to estimate the annual cost associated with bipolar disorder to the UK healthcare system (National Health Service).

METHODS

A retrospective observational study was conducted. Primary care resource use was estimated using the IMS Disease Analyzer, a nationally representative sample of general practitioner (GP) practices. Two sources of data from the NHS Information Centre were used to assess resource use in secondary care and in outpatient and community mental health. The number of bed days and day attendances for patients hospitalized was obtained from the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES). This was supplemented with Mental Health Minimum Dataset (MHMDS) to quantify outpatient and community mental health face-to-face contacts. Resource use was examined between 01 April 2007 and 31 March 2008.

RESULTS

The annual NHS cost of bipolar disorder was estimated to be £ 342 million at 2009/2010 prices. Hospitalizations accounted for 60%, outpatient and community mental health 26.7%, and medication in primary care 7.4% of the overall direct costs of care.

LIMITATIONS

This study may be confounded by the absence of a control group. This study was limited to an assessment of direct healthcare costs only, not the wider societal cost of bipolar disorder.

CONCLUSIONS

The direct medical cost of managing bipolar disorder in the UK healthcare system is considerable. Therapeutic strategies that optimize community-based management, prevention of recurrence and hospitalization could reduce the economic burden of this illness.