[Health economics and evaluation of schizophrenic psychoses in Germany]

This paper presents a survey of economic analyses of schizophrenia in Germany. A recently published cost-of-illness study demonstrates the high financial burden to society caused by the disease. Ambulatory care and medication were remarkably less costly than in-patient treatment. Several other studies show that continuous in-patient treatment is less cost-effective than complementary care in the community. Two pharmaco-economic models evaluate drugs with special focus on long-term treatment. Drugs with better compliance rates seem to produce savings in the health care system by less hospital admissions, even if the drug is more expensive than other medication. In addition to the survey the problems of economic analysis of psychiatric disorders in Germany are discussed. There are difficulties caused by the structure of the German health care system. Other problems emerge from the measurement of outcomes, effectiveness, utilities and quality of life in psychiatric disorders.