TITLE:
Costs of Schizophrenia at Psychiatric Hospital of Bingerville (Ivory Coast)
AUTHORS:
Madjara Anoumatacky, Anna-Corinne Bissouma, Drissa Kone
KEYWORDS:
Schizophrenia, Cost, Hospitalization, HPB, Côte d’Ivoire
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Psychiatry,
Vol.14 No.1,
January
26,
2024
ABSTRACT: Schizophrenia is classified as a priority mental disorder by the World
Health Organization (WHO) and accounts for around 35% of diagnoses at the
Bingerville Psychiatric Hospital (HPB). The aims of the study were to identify
the cost drivers for hospitalization and to calculate the costs of managing
schizophrenia in hospital, with a view to planning household expenditure on
care. This pilot cross-sectional study involved 31 patients with schizophrenia
who had been hospitalized in the various third-category wards at the HPB between
1st January 2019 and 31st May 2020. Sampling was accidental. The methods used
to estimate costs were based on the actual costs of drugs, hospitalization and
additional examinations which prices were known, and on patients’ estimations
for certain expenses such as food and transport. Results:
The sex ratio was 3.42, the mean age was 29.52 years. The mean length of stay
was 46.19 days, and the most frequent clinical forms were paranoid
schizophrenia (41.9%) and schizoaffective disorder (29%). The combination of
haloperidol and chlorpromazine was the most common medications for initial
treatment (67.8%) and maintenance treatment (41.9%). The average cost of
hospitalization at HPB for schizophrenia was XOF 164,412 (€249.90). The average
direct medical cost was XOF 105,412 (€160.226) and the average direct
non-medical cost was XOF 59,000 (€89.68). The average daily cost of
antipsychotic treatment was XOF 795/day (€1.2084). The high cost of drugs as a
proportion of hospitalization costs suggested the need of a reflection on the
simplification of prescribing practices, assistance in psychiatric emergencies
and the development of other alternatives to psychiatric hospitalization in
Côte d’Ivoire.