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Medical expenses are highest in cardiovascular disease
Cardiovascular diseases are extremely widespread in Germany. This is not only reflected in a high number of deaths, but also leads to massive so-called medical expenses. The Federal Statistical Office puts these in the cardiovascular diseases in a recent communication with 46.4 billion euros. Almost as high were the medical costs of 44.4 billion euros for mental and behavioral disorders.
According to the Federal Statistical Office, the average cost of illness per capita was 4,140 euros. A significant proportion of these costs are due to cardiovascular diseases and mental disorders, which together account for more than a quarter of the cost of illness. Furthermore, diseases of the digestive system and musculoskeletal disorders were also of particular importance and about half of the costs are attributable to these four disease classes, according to the Federal Statistical Office.
Cardiovascular diseases cause the highest medical expenses in Germany, closely followed by mental disorders and behavioral disorders. (Image: hriana / fotolia.com) Economic costs of diseases
In the disease cost calculation, the economic consequences of the diseases for the German economy are estimated, in addition to the direct costs of medical treatment and expenditure for prevention, rehabilitation and care measures are included. However, comparisons to earlier results due to methodological changes and new data sources are only possible to a limited extent, according to the Federal Statistical Office's announcement.
338 billion euros in total medical expenses
According to the latest evaluation, the cost of cardiovascular disease was 46.4 billion euros in 2015, representing 13.7 percent of the total cost of illness (338.2 billion euros). In mental and behavioral disorders, with 44.4 billion euros, about 13.1 percent of the total medical expenses incurred. Men also reported higher costs of cardiovascular disease than women (€ 540) at € 600 per capita. A reverse picture has been shown in diseases of the psyche and the behavioral disorders, so the message of the Federal Statistical Office. Here, the cost of illness per capita in women with 670 euros was around 1.6 times as high as among men (420 euros).
More illnesses with high medical expenses
According to the Federal Statistical Office, the majority of medical expenses and dental prostheses resulted from the illness costs due to diseases of the digestive system (41.6 billion euros). This area was the third highest cost factor. "Fourth place was followed by musculoskeletal disorders amounting to 34.2 billion euros," reports the Federal Statistical Office. In addition, neoplasms of tumors for about 23 billion euros medical expenses (6.8 percent of total costs) were responsible, injuries and poisoning for just under 18 billion euros (5.3 percent) and diseases of the nervous system for 17 billion euros (5.1 percent).
Different medical expenses in different age groups
The current statistics also show significant differences in the costs of illness in the different age groups. Thus, the cost of illness increases significantly with advancing age. About half of the costs arose only among the population aged 65 or older, reports the Federal Statistical Office. For people over the age of 85, the cost of the illness, at 19,790 euros, was almost five times higher than the average. In the age group of 15 to 29-year-olds, however, only 1,670 euros were incurred, which was the lowest per capita costs among the different age groups. (Fp)