Burden and cost of neurological diseases: a European North–South comparison. (23rd October 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Raggi, A.; Leonardi, M.
• Is Part Of: Acta neurologica Scandinavica. Volume 132:Number 1(2015:Jul.)
• Page Start: 16
• Page End: 22
• Publication Date: 2014-10-23
• Subjects: Neurology -- Periodicals; 616.8
• DOI: 10.1111/ane.12339
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0001-6314

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="ane12339-abs-0001"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <sec id="ane12339-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <title>Objectives</title> <p>To address the relationship between years lived with a disability (YLDs), prevalence and cost of neurological diseases, and to test whether there is a European North–South gradient for national health expenditure, disability, costs and prevalence of neurological diseases.</p> </sec> <sec id="ane12339-sec-0002" sec-type="section"> <title>Materials and methods</title> <p>Information on costs, prevalence and YLDs referred to 2010 were taken from the Study on the Cost of Disorders of the Brain and from the Global Burden of Disease study; data on health expenditure were taken from OECD reports. Selected conditions were as follows: brain tumours, stroke, dementia, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, migraine and tension‐type headache; selected countries were from North (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden) and South (Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain) Europe. The association between the variables for each condition was tested using Spearman's correlation; Wilcoxon signed ranks test was used to test North–South Europe differences.</p> </sec> <sec id="ane12339-sec-0003" sec-type="section"> <title>Results</title> <p>Correlations were largely non‐significant (except for stroke). YLDs and cost were generally lower in South‐European countries, and prevalence was lower in North‐European countries, but no significant differences were found.</p> </sec> <sec id="ane12339-sec-0004" sec-type="section"> <title>Conclusions</title> <p>Health expenditure, YLDs, costs and prevalence of neurological conditions were generally not correlated across the eight countries. A clear North–South gradient was found for health expenditures, and partially for YLDs, costs and diseases' prevalence. We hypothesized that this is a consequence of the expansion of morbidity of neurological conditions connected to ageing, that health and welfare systems of selected countries were not prepared to face.</p> </sec> </abstract>