Economic impact of the use of risperidone for the treatment of chronic schizophrenia in Ireland.

Authors: WM Hart, E Lindstrom & JF Guest.
Source: Irish Journal of Psychiatry 1997; 16(3): 12-16.

ABSTRACT

An earlier study of 31 patients with schizophrenia in Sweden demonstrated that the long-term use of risperidone might result in potential cost savings for health providers since patients needed less treatment in hospital. The resource utilisation patterns from this Swedish study were used to model the economic effects of using risperidone for patients with schizophrenia in Ireland. The average cost of healthcare resources used during the year before risperidone treatment was £23,339 per patient. This fell to £19,469 per patient in the first year of risperidone treatment representing a saving of 17%. For the sub-set of patients who continued in the study for two years (n=18), the mean annual cost of providing care during the second year fell to £10,469. The most important factor was the reduction in time spent by patients in hospital. During this period, patients also experienced significant improvements in mental state and movement disorders indicated by a decrease in PANSS score from 86.7 at the start to 59.9 at the end of one year’s treatment with risperidone and a fall in ESRS from 8.8 to 4.8. While such a model should be confirmed by prospective studies, it does suggest that the costs of atypical antipsychotics such as risperidone may be set off against considerable cost reductions to the Irish health service in terms of the need for hospitalisation.