Systematic Evaluation of Cost-of-illness Studies of Anxiety Disorders

Objective:To understand the research status and methods of cost-of-illness studies of anxiety disorders in foreign countries,and to provide reference for conducting cost-of-illness study on anxiety disorders in China.Methods:A systematic search of published cost-of-illness studies of anxiety disorders in the databases Medline was conducted.According to the results,the researches were differentiated between per-capita studies and national-cost studies.The costs were inflated in original currency to the year of 2006,and converted into US-dollar using purchasing power parties(US$PPP).Results:Thirteen papers were identified.Eleven papers were per-capita studies and 2 papers were national-cost studies.Average annual cost per case ranged from $56 to $8829 for direct costs,and from $328 to $8655 for indirect costs.There was only one paper in the United States conducting the national-cost studies on anxiety disorders.It was reported approximately $70 billions per year.Conclusion:Anxiety disorders are associated with a high economic burden of family and society.