Objective: Behçet's syndrome (BS), a common chronic inflammatory disease in Turkey, results in considerable morbidity and increased mortality. We aimed to estimate its direct and indirect costs.
Methods: We studied 119 (78 male/41 female) patients with BS at our multidisciplinary BS out-patient clinic in Istanbul, between March and July 2005. The mean age and disease duration were 35 +/- 9 and 10 +/- 6 S.D. yrs. According to the primary clinical problem, patients were divided into: (i) ocular; (ii) vascular; (iii) neurological and (iv) mucocutaneous-joint disease subgroups. They were interviewed with a standardized questionnaire addressing: (a) direct costs such as medication, diagnostic tests, hospital visits, hospitalization fees and lodging and transportation expenses and (b) indirect costs such as lost workdays and wages. The costs were assessed retrospectively by assessing the expenses within a year of the survey and were expressed as US$ mean +/- S.D.
Results: The mean annual total cost per patient was US$ 3226 +/- 3488 (S.D.). The direct cost accounted for 68% of the total cost. Medication expenses made up 79% of the total direct cost. About 42% of the patients reported lost workdays that averaged 119 +/- 96 days S.D. Among the clinical subgroups mucocutaneous-joint involvement (US$ 1180 +/- 1053) had the lowest economic impact while the neurological disease (US$ 5005 +/- 2707) had the highest.
Conclusion: In this first cost of illness study in BS, the neurological involvement had the highest annual cost. Direct costs were higher than the indirect costs. Drug costs were the major cost driver. BS causes considerable economic burden for the health care system in Turkey.