COST-EFFECTIVENESS AND QUALITY-OF-LIFE IN PSYCHOSIS - THE PHARMACOECONOMICS OF RISPERIDONE

Schizophrenia is arguably the worst disease affecting humankind, costl y in both social and financial terms. In the current cost-cutting clim ate, the focus is on economizing the delivery of health care, includin g reducing access to prescription drugs. Yet decreasing expenditures o n drugs for severe illnesses, such as schizophrenia, is a false econom y. Drugs account for only a small proportion of the total costs of tre ating schizophrenia, with inpatient hospital care comprising the great est portion of total treatment costs. Thus the use of risperidone, a m ore effective but more expensive antipsychotic medication, can decreas e the total cost of care for patients with chronic schizophrenia by de creasing the need for hospitalization. Fewer days spent in the hospita l also often means a better quality of life for patients. This finding is illustrated by case histories of 3 patients, 2 with schizophrenia and 1 elderly patient with behavioral disturbances of dementia.