Biomedical subjects

O Mast

Publications and source records attributed to O Mast.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2001

[Socioeconomic relevance of acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis in the Federal Republic of Germany. A prospective cost of illness study].

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Prospectively determined data on costs of chronic bronchitis were not yet available for the Federal Republic of Germany. The purpose of the burden-of-illness-study conducted in the Federal Republic of Germany from October 1996 to March 1998 was to calculate direct and indirect costs of chronic bronchitis as well as its acute exacerbations per patient and year. Furthermore, the health-related quality of life of the patients was determined. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The burden-of-illness-study was conducted as an open, not randomised surveillance study. The evaluation based on 785 patients (55.4% male, 44.2% female, 0.4% unknown; mean age 60 years) who were treated by 147 general practitioners. 755 patients could be included into the cost analysis. RESULTS: Per patient and year direct costs of chronic bronchitis amounted to DM 1112.27, the calculation of indirect costs resulted in DM 959.09. 41.4% of direct costs were due to drug acquisition, hospitalisation costs shared 31.6% and costs for physicians' fee amounted to 20.6%. The severity of chronic bronchitis revealed significantly different results in cost analysis: per patient, mild disease lead to direct costs of DM 387.86, moderate disease to DM 802.62 and severe disease to DM 2224.40. This result was caused by higher costs for drug acquisition and hospitalisation costs due to chronic bronchitis in higher stages of severity. Indirect costs were calculated by applying the human-capital-approach: 45.8% of indirect costs were due to time-off-work, nursing costs amounted to 23.7%. CONCLUSION: The costs of chronic bronchitis have a considerable impact on the total costs of the health care system of Germany.

Acute Disease↗

PubMed1999

[Direct and indirect costs of schizophrenia].

In the present study the costs of schizophrenia in Germany were studied using the "bottom up" prevalence-based method. In a random sample of 180 schizophrenic patients stratified according to the most important care institutions, direct and indirect costs were retrospectively documented for a 12-month period. Depending on the place of recruitment and the extent of care provided, total yearly costs result between about DM 33,000 for a patient treated predominantly on an outpatient basis and about DM 126,000 for a patient requiring hospital care and about DM 135,000 for a patient in job rehabilitation. The direct yearly treatment costs were, as expected, lowest for patients recruited in the private practice of a psychiatrist and predominantly treated on an outpatient basis (DM 5,788), and were the highest in the psychiatric hospital (DM 64,661) and in job rehabilitation (DM 79,996). In the patients recruited in the outpatient domain, doctors' fees and medication together were responsible for only 4.5% of the total costs, whereas the indirect costs (e.g., through work incapacity) were responsible for 87% of the total yearly costs. For methodological reasons the total costs caused by schizophrenic psychoses in Germany per year can at present be estimated only roughly. A conservative estimate is between 8.5 and 18 billion DM per year. The study shows that schizophrenia is a very expensive illness, the direct and indirect costs of which are on the whole comparable to those of the common somatic illnesses. Therefore, also for economical reasons, sufficient financial means should be invested in the research and treatment of this severe illness.

Adult↗

PubMed1999

[In Process Citation]

On the basis of a representative paper and pencil survey with office based psychiatrists, neurologists, psychiatric out-patient clinics and psychiatric wards/hospitals it is shown that in Germany in 1997 about 136,000 adult patients with diagnosed schizophrenia (F20 according to ICD 10) are attended by specialists. 75.4% of these patients are in attention of office based specialists, and 21.3% are attended by out-patient clinics. According to the details of psychiatric wards and hospitals, 3.3% of the patients are under long term (> 1 year) medical attention at hospitals. The amount of schizophrenia patients being under attention of specialists corresponds to 0.21% of the German population > 18 years. For patients who receive out-patient treatment it is shown that they are under medical attention at hospitals for average 22 days per year, and for 3.4 days they are under medical attention at rehabilitation centers.

Journal Article↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Treatment outcomes in acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis: comparison of macrolides and moxifloxacin from the patient perspective.

Moxifloxacin, a new respiratory quinolone, was compared with the macrolides azithromycin, clarithromycin and roxithromycin in a cohort study to assess clinical, safety and health-related outcomes of these antimicrobials in general practice settings. In total 332 patients with acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis (AECB) each received one of the antimicrobial agents for a standard short course of therapy. Random allocation of therapeutic agents occurred by centre, not individuals, and the drugs were prescribed in an open manner. In addition to clinical evaluation by their physicians, all patients kept daily diaries to assess AECB symptoms over the study period, therapy received and quality of life. The overall clinical response rate was 96% and all four regimens were well tolerated. After 14 days there were no significant differences between the study groups, but analyses of patients' daily evaluations of certain AECB specific symptoms showed a faster response rate in the moxifloxacin group.

Acute Disease↗