TREATMENT COSTS AND USE OF COMMUNITY MENTAL-HEALTH-SERVICES FOR SCHIZOPHRENIA BY AGE COHORTS

Objective: Research on schizophrenia has tended to ignore patterns and costs of mental health service use in late life. The present study ex amined the types of mental health services used and their costs for se veral age-defined cohorts in a large community mental health system. M ethod: The data covered all users of the mental health system included in the San Diego county billing information system in fiscal years 19 86 and 1990. Community mental health service use and codes were modele d as a function of patient demographic characteristics, diagnosis, and age. The patients were grouped into the following age categories: 18- 29, 30-44, 45-54, 55-64, 65-74, and greater than or equal to 75 years of age. Results: The total costs for schizophrenia were higher than th ose for other psychiatric disorders, and they were also age dependent. In both fiscal years, the costs of schizophrenia were higher for the youngest and oldest cohorts than for the patients in the 30-65-year ra nge. Conclusions: The economic burden of late-life schizophrenia to th e public mental health system is at least as high as that of schizophr enia in younger adults.