The Cost of Hospital Care in the Year Before and After Parasuicide

Abstract

This study, based in Ireland in the Limerick centre of the WHO/EURO Multicentre Study of Parasuicide, tests the hypothesis that the uptake of hospital services increases significantly following an act of parasuicide. To investigate this, the costs of hospital attendance in the year before and in the year after an act of parasuicide are measured and compared. The sample is comprised of the first 100 individuals who attended an acute general hospital following an act of parasuicide after July 1, 1995. Using a computerized patient record system, every hospital attendance is identified, for each individual, in the 12 months before and after the parasuicide act. This includes every visit to the Emergency Room as well as both general and psychiatric inpatient admissions and outpatient attendances. There was a 50% increase in the uptake of hospital services—32% of the sample attended hospital in the year before compared with 48% in the year after. The total yearly costs for the 100 patients almost doubled from IR£ 53,652 (Euro 68,138) to IR£ 104,454 (Euro 132,657). Generalizing to the 539 individuals who engaged in parasuicide in the Limerick catchment area, total costs increased from IR£ 289,184 (Euro 367,264) to IR£ 563,007 (Euro 715,019). This study is an initial step toward the more complex task of estimating to what extent the increased uptake of hospital services is due to the consequences of parasuicide and how much is due to other aspects of the patient's health.