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Age and Ageing 2009 38(1):27-32; doi:10.1093/ageing/afn281
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Cost of stroke in the United Kingdom

Ömer Saka1, Alistair McGuire1,2 and Charles Wolfe1,3

1 King's College London, Division of Health and Social Care Research, London SE1 3QD, UK
2 LSE Health and Social Care, London School of Economics and Political Science, London WC2A 2AE, UK
3 National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Biomedical Research Centre, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London, London, UK

Address correspondence to: Ö. Saka. Tel: (+44) 207 848 6629; Fax: (+44) 207 848 6620. Email: omer.saka{at}kcl.ac.uk

Introduction: this study aims to quantify the annual cost of illness of stroke to the UK economy.

Methods: we estimate the cost of stroke from a societal perspective. Direct care costs include diagnosis, inpatient care and outpatient care. Income loss and social benefit payments to stroke patients are accounted for in the indirect cost calculations. Data from South London Stroke Register and a number of other national sources are used. Sensitivity analysis was carried out to account for the variability in the data used.

Results: the treatment of and productivity loss arising from stroke results in total societal costs of £8.9 billion a year, with treatment costs accounting for approximately 5% of total UK NHS costs. Direct care accounts for approximately 50% of the total, informal care costs 27% and the indirect costs 24%. Sensitivity analysis did not alter the estimate of total costs significantly for most of the variables except using of differing prevalence rates.

Conclusions: stroke incurs considerable societal costs. Our calculations show a high sensitivity to the underlying prevalence rates used. The findings highlight a need for further economic evaluations to ensure that there is an efficient use of resources devoted to the treatment of this disease.

Keywords: stroke, cost of illness, health economics, elderly

Received 3 February 2008; accepted in revised form 26 August 2008.


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