PMH46 - Mental Health - Costs and Treatment Penetration Across Europe

Abstract

Mental health disorders are becoming important drivers in costs and resource use among non-communicable diseases. This trend will continue due to aging population. The authors evaluated pharmacotherapy costs, accessibility and treatment penetration for specific mental health disorders (schizophrenia, depression and dementia) across Europe. Based on published statistics and IMS data we calculated No. of mental health specialists, resource use and medication penetration in 29 European countries. Penetration was calculated in standard units per capita. There is a wide range of psychiatrists per 100 000 inhabitants (from 1 in Turkey to 30 in Switzerland), costs spent for mental health (% from healthcare) also differ significantly from 2 % (Bulgaria) to almost 14 % (UK). Average European costs for pharmacotherapy (ATC groups N3-N7) is 25 Euro/capita (2013 data); from 6 € in Russia to 57 € in Switzerland. Since 2009 the penetration of atypical antipsychotics steadily increases across Europe from 48 % among all antipsychotics (2009) to 56 % (2013). We however found differences in individual countries (46 % penetration in Slovenia; 69 % penetration in Hungary). The average annual European consumption of antidepressants is 18 units per capita (2 units in Russia; 42 units in the UK). SSRIs represent approximately 50 % of all antidepressants in the majority of countries. Penetration of pharmacotherapy for dementia (ATC group N7D1) is poor across Europe except Finland and Greece. In almost all countries it is below 50 % if a hypothetical common prevalence of 1.17 % is assumed. Our findings indicate unequal access, treatment penetration and allocation of financial resources across 29 evaluated European countries.