Citation

Dimai HP, Redlich K, Schneider H, Siebert U, Viernstein H, Mahlich J. Gesundheitswesen 2012; 74(10): e90-8.

Vernacular Title

Direkte und indirekte Kosten von osteoporotisch bedingten Frakturen in

Affiliation

Klinische Abteilung für Endokrinologie und Stoffwechsel, Medizinische Universität Graz.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Georg Thieme Verlag)

DOI

10.1055/s-0031-1301274

PMID

22422076

Abstract

We examined the financial burden of osteoporosis in Austria.We took both direct and indirect costs into consideration. Direct costs encompass medical costs such as expenses for pharmaceuticals, inpatient and outpatient medical care costs, as well as other medical services (e. g., occupational therapies). Non-medical direct costs include transportation costs and medical devices (e. g., wheel chairs or crutches). Indirect costs refer to costs of productivity losses due to absence of work. Moreover, we included costs for early retirement and opportunity costs of informal care provided by family members. While there exist similar studies for other countries, this is the first comprehensive study for Austria. For our analysis, we combined data of official statistics, expert estimates as well as unique patient surveys that are currently conducted in the course of an international osteoporotic fracture study in Austria.Our estimation of the total annual costs in the year 2008 imposed by osteoporosis in Austria is 707.4 million €. The largest fraction of this amount is incurred by acute hospital treatment. Another significant figure, accounting for 29% of total costs, is the opportunity cost of informal care.The financial burden of osteoporosis in Austria is substantial. Economic evaluations of preventive and therapeutic interventions for the specific context of Austria are needed to inform health policy decision makers.

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