Hi everyone -
I could not update the blog for some time. Here's a brief report on the costs of OCD, which I wrote for a related website:
I found an estimate of the total cost of OCD in the U.S.A., in: DuPont, R.L. et al (1995), for the year 1990, in Medical Interface, 8(4): pp. 102-109.
* direct total costs: $ 8.4 billion* this represents 18.0% of the costs for all anxiety disorders ($ 46.6 billion)* indirect costs from lost jobs, personal suffering, and people dying form the disorder, presumably by suicide: $ 6.2 billion
So, total costs: $ 14.6 billion. Mind, I am talking 1990 here... which means that total costs nowadays will be much higher.
I also checked the population statistics for the U.S. and the U.K. for around 1990. The U.K. populations formed 1/4 of that in the U.S.
Assuming that health care coverage is the same in both countries, the U.K. would have paid $ 3.6 billion way back then. But I made the educated guess above that total costs in the U.K. will have been much higher (20% of people in the U.S. is not insured at all). Add to that that the estimate of the part of OCD patients as a ratio of the general population in the U.S. in that article was on the low side (2.1%), and that there is a dark figure that we won't know but which will be considerable, the end conclusion must be:
OCD is very costly. To patients and society alike.
* direct total costs: $ 8.4 billion* this represents 18.0% of the costs for all anxiety disorders ($ 46.6 billion)* indirect costs from lost jobs, personal suffering, and people dying form the disorder, presumably by suicide: $ 6.2 billion
So, total costs: $ 14.6 billion. Mind, I am talking 1990 here... which means that total costs nowadays will be much higher.
I also checked the population statistics for the U.S. and the U.K. for around 1990. The U.K. populations formed 1/4 of that in the U.S.
Assuming that health care coverage is the same in both countries, the U.K. would have paid $ 3.6 billion way back then. But I made the educated guess above that total costs in the U.K. will have been much higher (20% of people in the U.S. is not insured at all). Add to that that the estimate of the part of OCD patients as a ratio of the general population in the U.S. in that article was on the low side (2.1%), and that there is a dark figure that we won't know but which will be considerable, the end conclusion must be:
OCD is very costly. To patients and society alike.
I'll be back soon with some more anatomy. Stay tuned!
