Alcoholism - The cost of illness in the Federal Republic of Germany

The purpose of this study was to estimate the direct and indirect costs of alcoholism in the Federal Republic of Germany, Direct costs comprised treatment costs, while indirect costs consisted mainly of costs incurred as a result of work time lost, as well as costs related to premature retirement and premature mortality. The costs of alcoholism were estimated using the aggregated statistics of several social security organisations and official statistics. For the purposes of this study, alcoholism was defined as alcohol dependence syndrome [9th revision of the International Classification of Diseases code (ICD) 303], alcoholic chronic liver disease and cirrhosis (ICD 571.0 to 571.3), and alcoholic psychoses (ICD 291). The reference period consisted of the year 1985 to 1991. All statistics and all analyses were limited to the so-called old states of Germany, within the boundaries as they were before 3rd October 1990. The overall monetary burden (in 1990 Deutschemarks) of alcoholism in the western part of Germany in 1990 was estimated to be DM5975 million. Alcoholism is associated with considerably more indirect costs (DM4422 million) than direct costs (DM1553 million). The predominance of indirect costs is mainly the result of the very high premature mortality of patients with alcoholism. Thus, the cost of premature mortality makes up more than half of the indirect costs of alcoholism (DM2284 million), while about a quarter of the indirect costs (DM1150 million) are associated with inability to work. Early retirement accounts for a similar amount (DM988 million). The majority of direct costs is accounted for by treatment in acute hospitals (DM869 million). Casts incurred as a result of rehabilitation treatment (DM373 million) and ambulatory care (DM331 million) are also considerable.