The direct and indirect costs of epilepsy in Poland estimates for 2014–2016 years

ABSTRACT

Background: According to the current data, around 1% of the Poland population have epilepsy, which comprises about 400,000 people. This group of patients requires life-long therapy including both drug therapy and hospitalization. The character of the epilepsy has a significant impact on the expenses borne by individual patients, and the prevalence of the disease has a significant impact on the health care system.

Methods: This article aims to measure the direct and indirect costs of epilepsy in Poland estimates for the years 2014–2016 (top-down approach). We use a modified human capital approach and a unique dataset provided by the number of Polish institutions including National Health Fund, Social Insurance Institution, and Central Statistical Office.

Results: Epilepsy burden in Poland is significant. In the years 2014–2016, the total direct cost of epilepsy amounted to, respectively, 355 mln PLN (84 mln EUR), 368 mln PLN (87 mln EUR), and 373 mln PLN (88 mln EUR), but the total indirect cost amounted to 1 bn PLN (239 mln EUR), 949 mln PLN (224 mln EUR), and 848 mln PLN (200 mln EUR).

Conclusions: Direct and indirect costs of epilepsy can be a useful input for health technology analyses of drugs or economic impact assessments of public health programs.

KEYWORDS:

• Epilepsy
• seizures
• direct costs
• indirect costs
• economic burden
• work loss

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the staff of the Polish institutions including National Health Fund (pol. Narodowy Fundusz Zdrowia) and Social Insurance Institution (pol. Zakład Ubezpieczeń Społecznych) for provision of necessary data.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript.

Reviewer Disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Author contributions

Aneta Mela - conception and design, analysis and interpretation of the data, drafting of the paper and revising it critically for intellectual content, final approval of the version to be published; Anna Staniszewska - drafting of the paper and revising it critically for intellectual content; Witold Wrona - interpretation of the data, revising paper critically for intellectual content; Łukasz A. Poniatowski - drafting of the paper and revising it critically for intellectual content; Janusz Jaroszyński - analysis of the data; Maciej Niewada - revising paper critically for intellectual content, final approval of the version to be published.

All authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here

Notes

1. The weighted average exchange rates: 1 EUR: 2014 (4.1852), 2015 (4.1839), and 2016 (4.3625); average exchange rate in 2014–2016 (1 USD – 4.244). Available from: http://www.nbp.pl/home.aspx?f=/kursy/arch_a.html 1 USD: 2014 (3.1551), 2015 (3.7701), and 2016 (3.9431); average exchange rate in 2014–2016 (1 USD – 3.623). Available from: http://www.nbp.pl/home.aspx?f=/kursy/arch_a.html.

2. One should differentiate between a working person and an employee (as the former involves i.a. self-employment).

3. Taking into consideration the 2012 reform in the Polish pension system, the retirement age was been increased to 67 years from the previous 60 years for women and 65 years for men. Instead transition-period regulations determined a lower retirement age – between 60/65 and 67 – for the older cohorts of working age population, as a function of date of birth. In case of the legal framework as of 2014–2016 (years of analysis), this should be, and has been, taken into account when setting k as a function of n. The utilized values of k(n) were taken from the tables available in the public domain (http://www.wskazniki.pl). Moreover, it should be kept in mind that the reform has been reverted in Poland in 2016, and this would somewhat reduce the indirect cost of mortality and permanent incapacity for work in the calculation related to any disease in the subsequent years.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.