Costs of schizophrenia in The Netherlands

Abstract

This study tries to identify and estimate the health care costs of schizophrenia in The Netherlands and to determine in a broader sense the total costs of schizophrenia for society in terms of productivity loss caused by absence from work and early retirement. The study can be described as a "cost-of-illness" study based on prevalence data. It shows that in The Netherlands about 2 percent of the total health care budget is spent on the treatment of schizophrenia patients. This figure is rather high, since the prevalence rate of schizophrenia in The Netherlands is only 0.6 percent. The indirect costs--production lost because of absence from work, disability, and early death--were very low, but these costs are underestimated because schizophrenia patients are unlikely to become active participants in the labor force. It is also difficult to identify people who have died of schizophrenia in national data because schizophrenia in itself is not lethal, but individuals with schizophrenia may die because of suicide or violent death.