Article
The economical aspect of head trauma in Germany
Der ökonomische Aspekt des Schädel-Hirn-Traumas in Deutschland
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Published: | May 4, 2005 |
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Outline
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Objective
There is a great influence of economical factors in the current discussion about health systems. In contrast, head injuries as the major cause for death and disability in younger people, surprisingly do not play a significant role in public discussions. We performed a study to estimate the costs caused by mild, moderate and severe head injuries. The aim was to determine the insurance costs as well as to assess the social aspects of head trauma.
Methods
Starting March1st 2000 until February 28th 2001 we performed a study on all degrees of head injuries admitted to the hospital in two distinct areas in Germany. Inclusion criteria were reported as head injury with at least one symptom (i.e vegetative disorder, amnesia neurological deficit or coma) (ICD 10 S01-09).
Results
6783 patients were included in the study. In respect to the population of both examined regions this result corresponds to an incidence of 322/100 000. 5220patients were admitted to a normal ward, 19% got a CT, 82% a skull-x-ray. In only 3% an emergency operation had to be carried out For 4,5% of these patients intensive care became necessary and 258 patients went to rehabilitation after initial treatment . The calculated average costs for a hospital transfer were € 293 per case. Average costs for radiological examinations were only € 67 per patient. A total of € 459 524 resulted for all patients. The costs of hospital stay differed from intensive care (€ 6429) to general ward (€1786) to pediatric ward (€820). Emergency operations costs ranged between 1315€ to 18100 €. Patient not admitted to ward were unable to work for a 14 days period, to ward admitted patients were unable to work for 30days and ICU treated for about 60 days. Therefore the total social cost of each mild injury will be about € 11 772, for a severe injury € 71145. The lost financial input to the social system due to death can be estimated up to € 2 Mill for a child and up to € 1.2 Mill. for adults. For all 6783 documented patients the insurances had to pay 28 Mill€ compared to the 95 Mill € effective costs for public services.
Conclusions
For whole Germany the total costs in head injury including public society, insurances and health system can be estimated to 2.800 Million € per year.