Costs of epilepsy: an experience based on a specialized center

ABSTRACT

An epileptic disorder is defined as an intermittent disturbance of the nervous system and it occurs because of an excessive, sudden and disordered discharge of cerebral neurons. Lately, the cost of medical treatments, in general and in particular of the epileptic drugs, has been discusses in many countries. The objective is to evaluate the cost of epilepsy in Brazil. There were selected 87 patients with a diagnosis of epilepsy, 48 male patients and 39 female patients, with average general age of 38.5 years old. The total cost for an annual treatment of all the 87 patients was of R$62.462,45. The costs with computerized tomography of the cranium, encephalic magnetic resonance, annual electroencephalogram, annual laboratorial exams and medical consultations, was of R$8.477,28, R$3.493,75, R$986,58, R$5.649,78, R$ 3.480, respectively, with a total of R$84.549,84. The indirect costs could not be summed up because of the difficulty in obtaining retrospective information.