Schizophrenia burden totaled more than $340 billion in 2019

Schizophrenia’s approximate societal burden was $341.5 billion in the U.S. in 2019, according to study results presented at Psych Congress.

Adjusted for inflation, this represented a 99.8% increase in burden since 2013.

“In a study estimating the economic burden of schizophrenia in 2013 using a prevalence of 1.1%, the societal costs of schizophrenia were estimated to be $155.7 billion,” Aditi Kadakia, MS, director of health economics and outcomes research at Sunovion Pharmaceuticals in Massachusetts, said during a virtual presentation. “Major systemic changes, reforms and technological advances have happened in the U.S. since 2013. The objective of this study was to assess the economic burden of schizophrenia on patients, caregivers and society in the U.S.”

Kadakia and colleagues used a prevalence-based approach to estimate direct and indirect costs linked to schizophrenia in the U.S. in 2019. They retrospectively examined direct health care costs using a matched cohort design in three databases between October 2015 and December 2019. They matched patients to controls on demographics, insurance type and index year. Further, the researchers estimated direct non-health care costs using published literature and government data. They used a human capital approach and the value of quality-adjusted life years lost to estimate indirect costs. They applied costs offsets to control for basic living costs avoided. Excess costs, which compared costs for those with and without schizophrenia, were reported in 2019 U.S. dollars.

Results showed $341.5 billion in estimated excess economic schizophrenia burden in the U.S. in 2019. This included $62.3 billion in direct health care costs (19%), $19.7 billion in direct non-health care costs (5%) and $251.9 billion in excess indirect costs (76%). Caregiving ($112.3 billion), premature mortality ($77.9 billion) and unemployment ($54.2 billion) represented the most significant drivers of indirect costs.

“Given these findings, strategies to address the high and increasing economic burden of schizophrenia would be valuable (eg, better treatment options, earlier diagnosis, etc.),” Kadakia and colleagues wrote in the study. “This study underscores the large and increasing burden of schizophrenia not only on the patient but also on caregivers and society.”