Costs of treatment and outcome measures in schizophrenia

Out of a sample of 138 patients with diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizo-affective disorder (ICD-10) who where First hospitalized between 1990 and 1993, 31 patients rehospitalized between 1994 and 1996 were prospectively investigated (t1, index admission: t2, one-year-follow-up). Psychopathology was recorded by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), social disability by the German version of the Disability Assessment Schedule (DAS-M). The total costs of treatment over the past year were estimated including all outpatient services used within the last year. The cost of treatment amounted on average to 37700 DM/year in the year before index admission and 55900 DM/year in the following year (including index admission). The costs were highly correlated with social disability (t2) (p < .0001) and moderately correlated with negative symptoms (t1, t2) (p < .05), but not with positive or general symptoms. Negative symptoms were highly correlated with social disability (t1, t2) (p < .01), positive and general symptoms only moderately (t2) (p < .05). The results support the assumption that the inpatient and outpatient psychiatric care system meets the needs of patients.