Disease burden of schizophrenia patients visiting a Chinese regional mental health centre.

A decision-analytic model was constructed to simulate a real-world cohort of Chinese patients visiting a Chinese regional mental health center for long-term health outcomes and direct medical costs. When compared with age and gender-matched general population, the Chinese patients with schizophrenia were associated with reduced overall survival by 20.6 years (27.6 vs 48.2 years) and reduced quality-adjusted life years (QALY) by 18.4 QALY (18.4 vs 36.8 QALY), respectively, and increased lifetime direct medical costs by about three-times (US$84,324 vs 33,387 as of 31 December 2017) on average. The burden of schizophrenia was mainly driven by the mortality associated with relapsed schizophrenia and direct medical costs for schizophrenia in local mental health rehabilitation institutes.