[Cost of illness and health service patterns in Morbus Parkinson in Austria].

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to analyse the costs and the situation of care in patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD) in Austria. Continuously increasing healthcare costs and the fact that the prevalence of PD is expected to double in the next 25 years highlight the importance of health-economic evaluation in PD.

METHOD: Patient survey with 81 patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease. A bottom-up approach has been used to calculate direct and indirect costs from a societal perspective. Cost-driving factors were identified by multiple regression analysis.

RESULTS: The overall costs from the perspective of society was 9280 per patient within a six-month period and consisted of 60% direct costs (5910 ) and 40% indirect costs (3910 ). The major part (59%) of direct costs was paid by the national healthcare. Co-payments of patients were 810 per six-months. The annual nationwide costs of PD in Austria are estimated to be approximately 320 million .

CONCLUSION: PD is an economic challenge for the Austrian healthcare system. Direct costs account for the most part and are on account of the national healthcare system. In addition, patients bear considerable costs by personal contribution.