Costs of Disorders of the Brain in Europe 2005

Costs of Disorders of the Brain in Europe Andlin-Sobocki P, Jönsson B, Wittchen HU, Olesen J. Eur J Neurol. 2005 Jun;12 Suppl 1:1-27. June 2005

Abstract

The human brain is not only the site of our personality, thoughts, feelings and other human characteristics; it is also the seat of many chronic disabling diseases. These diseases have not received the attention that has been devoted to heart disease, cancer or AIDS, but in recent years there has been a growing awareness of their importance. There is also a growing awareness that basic brain research is equally relevant to neurological, neurosurgical diseases and mental disorders. For these reasons the European Brain Council (EBC) was formed in 2003 uniting neurologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, neurosurgeons, basic neuroscientists, patient organizations and industrial research in one co-affiliation. This organization has, as primary purpose, to promote brain research. For this purpose, data on the burden and cost of brain disorders are crucial. As an initial project, the EBC has analysed the WHO global burden of disease study extracting European data and bringing the brain disorders under one hat. We showed that the burden of brain disorders constitutes 35% of the total burden of all diseases in Europe.