Burden of psychosis in Hong Kong : a cost-of-illness study

Abstract

Cost-of-illness studies are used to assess the burden of an illness onto a society. Usually cost-of-illness studies investigate direct costs which are related to the treatment and indirect costs that are costs incurred due to the disease but not directly related to the treatment like productivity loss. Sometimes intangible costs like pain and deterioration of quality of life are also studied. Psychosis is a costly mental condition and Global Burden of Diseases by World Health Organization regards active psychosis as a highly disabling condition. There are studies about cost of psychosis or schizophrenia around the world and some of those done in developed countries were reviewed in this thesis. However, the cost of psychosis in Hong Kong is largely unknown. This thesis aims to estimate the cost of psychosis in Hong Kong from societal perspective by using data from a project called Jockey Club Early Psychosis (JCEP) Project. The estimation of the cost involved cost item identification, cost item measurement and cost item valuation. The direct cost of psychosis was estimated to be $1,028 million which was 1.17% of total health expenditure and 2.34% of total public health expenditure in Hong Kong in 2009. Indirect cost due to productivity loss was $1,083.5 million. Like most of the countries reviewed, productivity loss made up the largest economic loss. However, the sample size was small and there were problems of generalisability in the estimations and this was discussed in the thesis.