Cost of schizophrenia - What we know (not)?

Schizophrenia is regarded as one of the most expensive mental illnesses bec ause of its specific symptoms and characteristics. The care of schizophreni c patients consumed approx. 2% of the total German health care expenditures in 1994, according to the scarce data provided by routine German health re porting. Despite this enormous impact, health-economical research in schizo phrenia in Germany is widely neglected. While few empirical studies on dire ct cost of care for schizoprenic patients suggest that adequate comprehensi ve community care in Germany during the mid-nineties was about DM 27000 to DM 28000 per patient and year, there is a serious lackage of cost-effective ness-studies, relating cost of care to outcome. Thus, the most basic data f or any health care planning in schizophrenia is missing. This paper reviews the studies on cost of schizophrenia in Germany. it identifies the most se rious knowledge gaps and describes the obstacles for an adequate research i n this field.