Article Review: Health and Social Costs

Article Review: Health and Social Costs

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                                                            Article Review: Health and Social Costs

            Health and societal costs of the management of children/adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in Spain: a descriptive analysis

The article draws attention to the financial obligation of ADHD children/adolescents, their families, and society as a whole. ADHD is a neurological disorder that causes the affected kids to be inappropriately hyperactive, impulsive, or have distorted attention and this affects their everyday life. We cannot ignore the numbers that show that about 5.3% of children/adolescents in Spain and 7.1% worldwide suffer from attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Each of these kids incurs both direct and indirect costs from pharmacotherapy, psychologists, caregivers, and many others. From the article 60.2% of the total cost is incurred directly and from this about 45.2% is due to psychologist charges, and 25.8% is due to pharmacotherapy. Of the indirect costs, about 65.2% are due to caregivers.  The authors of this article conducted intense research that centered around the clinical characteristics of children and adolescents with ADHD and the incurred costs of on-pharmacotherapy and off-pharmacotherapy. The article offers an in-depth analysis of the finances incurred by the healthcare system, the families, and society as a whole as a result of ADHD.

The work done by the authors in this article is to be commended and should be used as a stepping stone into further research on the implications of ADHD in society and not just from a financial view. This article gives a voice to ADHD-affected kids, their families, and society on the financial burden placed upon them by the scourge that is ADHD. It also stresses the role of pharmacotherapy in aiding the lives of kids and families affected by ADHD while relieving some financial burden too. It is important to realize the role played by this article in paving the way to the increase of financial aid groups that support families affected by ADHD. 

The research analysis of the money spent on 321 ADHD children/adolescents was conducted over a period of one year at 15 health centers and data was gathered from both the health-care system and the society. The research was conducted on both children/adolescents who were on pharmacotherapy and whose pharmacotherapy failed. It is clear from the article that ADHD kids, who responded poorly to pharmacotherapy incurred a higher financial margin compared to kids on pharmacotherapy. The estimated cost of an attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder kid on pharmacotherapy over a period of one year in 2012 was found to be €5733 compared to €7654 for a kid for whom pharmacotherapy failed. The difference between the cost of the two is due to higher expenses from non-pharmacological treatments that had to be used.

The article raises awareness of ADHD and allows a person without even the faintest clue about ADHD to understand what it is, how the disorder is manifested in children and adolescents and the help provided. Furthermore, the economic evaluation provided in the paper allows the reader to understand the financial burden that affected families undergo. However, the article raises a concern as it did not include special needs education costs, which should be a major part of the research, especially considering the age-group focus of the research: children and adolescents. Kids between the ages of 6 and 17 years, who are the focus of the research, are most likely to be in school and ADHD-affected kids need to have special teachers or go to special schools with an adapted curriculum which is more expensive than regular schooling. Overall, the article provides insightful information that paves the way for further research.

Reference

Quintero, J., Ramos-Quiroga, J., Sebastián, J., Montañés, F., Fernández-Jaén, A., & Martínez-Raga, J. et al. (2018). Health care and societal costs of the management of children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in Spain: a descriptive analysis. BMC Psychiatry, 18(1), 14. doi: 10.1186/s12888-017-1581-y