Burden of schizophrenia in recently diagnosed patients: healthcare utilisation and cost perspective

AbstractBackground:Inpatient care to manage relapse of patients with schizophrenia contributes greatly to the overall financial burden of treatment. The present study explores to what extent this is influenced by duration of illness.Methods:Medical and pharmaceutical claims data for patients diagnosed with schizophrenia (ICD-9 295.xx) were obtained from the PharMetrics Integrated Database, a large, regionally representative US insurance claims database, for the period 1998–2007. Recently diagnosed (n = 970) and chronic patients (n = 2996) were distinguished based on ICD-9 295.xx classification, age and claims history relative to the first year (recently diagnosed) and the third year onwards (chronic) after the first index schizophrenia event.Results:The medical resource use and costs during the year following the index schizophrenia event differed significantly between cohorts. A higher proportion of recently diagnosed patients were hospitalised compared with chronic patients (22.3% vs 12.4%; p < 0.0001),...