THE COST OF EPILEPSY IN THE UNITED-KINGDOM - AN ESTIMATION BASED ON THE RESULTS OF 2 POPULATION-BASED STUDIES

Epilepsy has important socio-economic costs to a population. It is important to assess these costs so that health care priorities can be set. We assessed the burden of illness of epilepsy at the community level, and from this we were able to estimate costs for an individual and the cost to the United Kingdom (UK) as a whole. Cost analysis was based on two different populations of patients with epilepsy, a prevalent and an incident population. Patients with established epilepsy (n=1628), who were identified from general practices throughout the UK as part of the National Epilepsy Survey (NES), and patients with newly diagnosed epilepsy (n=602), from the National General Practice Study of Epilepsy (NGPSE), which is a prospective longitudinal cohort study of epilepsy. Indirect and direct costs were assessed in the NES, and direct costs in the NGPSE. A longitudinal cost profile of epilepsy was calculated, with an average initial direct cost of pound 611 (US$917) per patient per annum which decreased after eight years of follow up to pound 169 (US$254) per patient per annum. The cost to the UK of newly diagnosed epilepsy in the first year of diagnosis was pound 18 million (US$27 million). The total annual cost of established epilepsy to the UK was estimated at pound 1930 million (US$2895 million), over 69% of which was due to indirect costs (unemployment and excess mortality). The cost of active epilepsy per patient was approximately pound 4167 (US$6251), and of inactive epilepsy pound 1630 (US$2445) per patient per annum. Methodological issues in cost studies of epilepsy are reviewed.