Every year, thousands of Danes suffer from diseases that affect their brain; diseases that cost both lives and huge sums of money. This is shown in a detailed study of different types of brain disease in Denmark, which researchers from Aarhus University and Aarhus University Hospital are behind.

2020.11.17 | Helle Horskjær Hansen

The major public diseases such as depression and stress affect many people, and it is also people with the diseases that cost society the most. In 2015, people with depression alone cost society more than ten billion kroner. Photo: Health Kommunikation.

More than one million Danes have suffered at least one brain disease that required an examination or treatment at a hospital – and a year after the diagnosis, mortality was five times higher among people with brain diseases compared to the general population. This is shown by the figures from the study, in which researchers have followed all Danish patients diagnosed with brain disease during the period 1995-2015.

Christian Fynbo Christiansen, who is clinical associate professor at Aarhus University and consultant at Aarhus University Hospital, has been involved in carrying out the new study.

"Not surprisingly, we saw that the major common diseases such as depression and stress affect many people, but we were surprised to see how many had had a hospital-diagnosed concussion or other brain injury," he says.

The project maps out what the researchers have defined as the 25 most significant  brain diseases, including psychiatric disorders, abuse, dementia disorders, brain tumours, sleep disturbances, stress, disorders, concussion and strokes.

Increased mortality

The study shows that all brain diseases – with the exception of headaches – are associated with increased mortality. It is even higher for some of the rarer diseases, such as e.g. brain tumours, and lower for others such as e.g. sleep disorders.

The results have just been published in the international journal BMJ Open.

In addition to the human consequences for people who have been at the hospital with a brain disease, there is also the cost to society which runs into billions of Danish kroner, among other things as a result of admissions, care needs, lost earnings and mortality.

"These are substantive costs, and we were particularly surprised by the many costs outside of the healthcare system in the form of lost productivity," says health economist, Niels Skipper from Aarhus University, who also contributed to the study.

Cost-intensive item

The researchers have looked at both the direct costs including general practitioners, contact with the emergency room, prescription medicine, home care and care home, and the indirect costs such as loss of labour in the event of illness and death.

"The diseases associated with the greatest costs are depression, strokes, abuse, anxiety and dementia. These are diseases which either have great societal costs as a result of reduced salary or due to care needs,” says Niels Skipper.

In 2015 the direct additional costs of all people with brain diseases were DKK 39 billion, while indirect additional costs were DKK 84 billion. Overall, the costs for people with brain diseases are the equivalent of approx. six per cent of Denmark's total GDP.

Redesigning the healthcare system

“These are huge costs - by comparison, in Denmark we use around ten per cent of our GDP on the healthcare sector as a whole. In this context it’s important to stress that many of the indirect costs which we’ve looked at are not health costs,” says the health economist.

The researchers hope that the new knowledge can be utilised as a basis for designing the healthcare system differently, while at the same time looking into factors which can reduce incidences, mortality and costs associated with specific brain diseases.

"The costs associated with brain diseases are so high that, if we can become even better at preventing and treating these conditions, the benefits may not only be human but also economic," explains Christian Fynbo Christiansen.

Background for the results

• Type of study: Register-based cohort study, in which the researchers have followed all patients diagnosed with brain diseases in the period 1995-2015 who have required examination or treatment at a hospital.
• Partners: Niels Skipper, associate professor of health economics at BSS, Aarhus University. Jens Olsen from the company Incentive is also co-author and has assisted with expertise in health economics.
• The study is financed by the Lundbeck Foundation. The Lundbeck Foundation is also behind the idea of examining the incidence, mortality and costs of the most significant brain diseases in Denmark. The foundation has not had any role in relation to research design, performance, analysis or reporting of the study.
• The study is published in BMJ Open.

Contact

Consultant & Clinical Associate Professor Christian Fynbo Christiansen
Aarhus University, Department of Clinical Medicine and
Aarhus University Hospital, Department of Clinical Epidemiology
Mobile: (+45) 2020 8398
Email: cfc@clin.au.dk

Associate Professor Niels Skipper
Aarhus University, Department of Economics and Business Economics
Tel.: (+45) 8716 5546
Email: nskipper@econ.au.dk