Annual cost of bipolar disorder to UK society.

BACKGROUND The socio-economic impact of bipolar disorder in the UK is unknown. AIMS To estimate the annual socio-economic burden imposed by bipolar disorder on UK society. METHOD The annual cost of resource use attributable to managing bipolar disorder was calculated. Indirect societal costs were also calculated. RESULTS The annual National Health Service (NHS) cost of managing bipolar disorder was estimated to be 199 million pounds sterling , of which hospital admissions accounted for 35%. The annual direct non-health-care cost was estimated to be 86 million pounds sterling annually and the indirect societal cost was estimated to be 1770 million pounds sterling annually. CONCLUSIONS The annual cost to UK society attributable to bipolar disorder was estimated to be 2 billion pounds sterling at 1999/2000 prices (estimated 297 000 people with the disorder). Ten per cent of this cost is attributable to NHS resource use, 4% to non-health-care resource use and 86% to indirect costs.