Health care and societal costs of the management of children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in Spain: a descriptive analysis

Quintero, J. (J.); Ramos-Quiroga, J.A. (Josep A.); San-Sebastián, J. (Javier); Montañés, F. (Francisco); Fernández-Jaén, A. (Alberto); Martínez-Raga, J. (José); García-Giral, M. (Marta); Graell, M. (Montserrat); Mardomingo, M.J. (María J.); Soutullo-Esperón, C. (César Alejandro); Eiris, J. (Jesús); Téllez, M. (Montserrat); Pamias, M. (Montserrat); Correas, J. (Javier); Sabaté, J. (Juncal); Garcia-Orti, L. (Laura); Alda, J.A. (José A.)

Keywords:

ADHD
Adolescence
School children
Economic evaluation

Issue Date:

2018

Publisher:

BMC

ISSN:

1471-244X

Note:

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

Citation:

Quintero, J. (J.); Ramos-Quiroga, J.A. (Josep A.); San-Sebastián, J. (Javier); et al. "Health care and societal costs of the management of children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in Spain: a descriptive analysis". Bmc psychiatry. 18 (1), 2018, 40

Abstract

Background: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common neurodevelopmental condition in childhood (5.3% to 7.1% worldwide prevalence), with substantial overall financial burden to children/adolescents, their families, and society. The aims of this study were to describe the clinical characteristics of children and adolescents with ADHD in Spain, estimate the associated direct/indirect costs of the disorder, and assess whether the characteristics and financial costs differed between children/adolescents adequately responding to currently available pharmacotherapies compared with children/adolescents for whom pharmacotherapies failed. Methods: This was a multicenter, cross-sectional, descriptive analysis conducted in 15 health units representative of the overall Spanish population. Data on demographic characteristics, socio-occupational status, social relationships, clinical variables of the disease, and pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments received were collected in 321 children and adolescents with ADHD. Direct and indirect costs were estimated over one year from both a health care system and a societal perspective. Results: The estimated average cost of ADHD per year per child/adolescent was €5733 in 2012 prices; direct costs accounted for 60.2% of the total costs (€3450). Support from a psychologist/educational psychologist represented 45.2% of direct costs and 27.2% of total costs. Pharmacotherapy accounted for 25.8% of direct costs and 15.5% of total costs. Among indirect costs (€2283), 65.2% was due to caregiver expenses. The total annual costs were significantly higher for children/adolescents who responded poorly to pharmacological treatment (€7654 versus €5517; P = 0.024), the difference being mainly due to significantly higher direct costs, particularly with larger expenses for non-pharmacological treatment (P = 0.012). Conclusions: ADHD has a significant personal, familial, and financial impact on the Spanish health system and society. Successful pharmacological intervention was associated with lower overall expenses in the management of the disorder

URI:

https://hdl.handle.net/10171/64611

DOI:

10.1186/s12888-017-1581-y

Appears in Collections:

DA - CUN - Psiquiatría y Psicología médica - Artículos de revista

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