Department of Research Planning, Mental Health Research Institute, National Center for Mental Health, Seoul, South Korea.
Graduate School of Public Health, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea.
PLoS One. 2020 Jul 16;15(7):e0235736. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0235736. eCollection 2020.
Globally, about one in four people develop a psychiatric disorder during their lifetime. Specifically, the lifetime prevalence of schizophrenia is about 0.48%, and schizophrenia can have detrimental effects on a patient's life. Therefore, estimating the economic burden of schizophrenia is important. We investigated the cost-of-illness trend of schizophrenia in South Korea from 2006 to 2016. The cost-of-illness trend was estimated from a societal perspective using a prevalence-based approach for direct costs and a human capital approach for indirect costs. We utilized information from the following sources: 1) National Health Insurance Service, 2) Korean Statistical Information Service, Statistics Korea, 3) the National Survey of Persons with Disabilities, 4) Budget and Fund Operation Plan, Ministry of Justice, 5) Budget and Fund Operation Plan, Ministry of Health and Welfare, and 6) annual reports from the National Mental Health Welfare Commission. Direct healthcare costs, direct non-healthcare costs, and indirect costs by sex and age group were calculated along with sensitivity analyses of the estimates. The cost-of-illness of schizophrenia in Korea steadily increased from 2006 to 2016, with most costs being indirect costs. Individuals in their 40s and 50s accounted for most of the direct and indirect costs. Among indirect costs, the costs due to unemployment were most prevalent. Our estimation implies that schizophrenia is associated with a vast cost-of-illness in Korea. Policymakers, researchers, and physicians need to put effort into shortening the duration of untreated psychosis, guide patients to receive community-care-based services rather than hospital-based services and empower lay people to learn about schizophrenia.
在全球范围内，大约有四分之一的人在其一生中会患上精神疾病。具体来说，精神分裂症的终身患病率约为 0.48%，而精神分裂症会对患者的生活产生不利影响。因此，估计精神分裂症的经济负担很重要。我们调查了 2006 年至 2016 年韩国精神分裂症的疾病成本趋势。从社会角度出发，我们使用基于患病率的方法来估算直接成本，使用人力资本方法来估算间接成本。我们利用了以下来源的信息：1）国家健康保险服务，2）韩国统计信息服务，韩国统计局，3）全国残疾人调查，4）司法部预算和基金运作计划，5）卫生部和福利部预算和基金运作计划，6）国家精神健康福利委员会的年度报告。我们按性别和年龄组计算了直接医疗保健成本、直接非医疗保健成本和间接成本，并对这些估计值进行了敏感性分析。韩国的精神分裂症疾病成本从 2006 年到 2016 年稳步上升，大部分成本是间接成本。40 多岁和 50 多岁的人占直接和间接成本的大部分。在间接成本中，失业造成的成本最为普遍。我们的估计表明，精神分裂症在韩国带来了巨大的疾病负担。政策制定者、研究人员和医生需要努力缩短未治疗精神病的持续时间，引导患者接受社区护理服务而不是医院服务，并授权非专业人员了解精神分裂症。
