Economics of mental well-being: a prospective study estimating associated health care costs and sickness benefit transfers in Denmark

Ziggi Ivan Santini (), Hannah Becher, Maja Bæksgaard Jørgensen, Michael Davidsen, Line Nielsen, Carsten Hinrichsen, Katrine Rich Madsen, Charlotte Meilstrup, Ai Koyanagi, Sarah Stewart-Brown, David McDaid and Vibeke Koushede
Additional contact information
Ziggi Ivan Santini: University of Southern Denmark
Hannah Becher: University of Southern Denmark
Maja Bæksgaard Jørgensen: University of Southern Denmark
Michael Davidsen: University of Southern Denmark
Line Nielsen: University of Southern Denmark
Carsten Hinrichsen: University of Southern Denmark
Katrine Rich Madsen: University of Southern Denmark
Charlotte Meilstrup: University of Southern Denmark
Ai Koyanagi: Universitat de Barcelona, Fundació Sant Joan de Déu
Sarah Stewart-Brown: University of Warwick
David McDaid: London School of Economics and Political Science
Vibeke Koushede: University of Copenhagen

The European Journal of Health Economics, 2021, vol. 22, issue 7, No 6, 1053-1065

Abstract: Abstract Background Previous literature has examined the societal costs of mental illness, but few studies have estimated the costs associated with mental well-being. In this study, a prospective analysis was conducted on Danish data to determine 1) the association between mental well-being (measured in 2016) and government expenditure in 2017, specifially healthcare costs and sickness benefit transfers. Methods Data stem from a Danish population-based survey of 3,508 adults (aged 16 + years) in 2016, which was linked to Danish registry data. A validated scale (WEMWBS) was used for the assessment of mental well-being. Costs are expressed in USD PPP. A two-part model was applied to predict costs in 2017, adjusting for sociodemographics, health status (including psychiatric morbidity and health behaviour), as well as costs in the previous year (2016). Results Each point increase in mental well-being (measured in 2016) was associated with lower healthcare costs ($− 42.5, 95% CI = $− 78.7, $− 6.3) and lower costs in terms of sickness benefit transfers ($− 23.1, 95% CI = $− 41.9, $− 4.3) per person in 2017. Conclusions Estimated reductions in costs related to mental well-being add to what is already known about potential savings related to the prevention of mental illness. It does so by illustrating the savings that could be made by moving from lower to higher levels of mental well-being both within and beyond the clinical range. Our estimates pertain to costs associated with those health-related outcomes that were included in the study, but excluding other social and economic outcomes and benefits. They cover immediate cost estimates (costs generated the year following mental well-being measurement) and not those that could follow improved mental well-being over the longer term. They may therefore be considered conservative from a societal perspective. Population approaches to mental health promotion are necessary, not only to potentiate disease prevention strategies, but also to reduce costs related to lower levels of mental well-being in the non-mental illness population. Our results suggest that useful reductions in both health care resource use and costs, as well as in costs due to sick leave from the workplace, could be achieved from investment in mental well-being promotion within a year.

Keywords: Health economics; Healthcare utilization; Mental health; Well-being; Public health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10198-021-01305-0 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:eujhec:v:22:y:2021:i:7:d:10.1007_s10198-021-01305-0

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... cs/journal/10198/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s10198-021-01305-0

Access Statistics for this article

The European Journal of Health Economics is currently edited by J.-M.G.v.d. Schulenburg

More articles in The European Journal of Health Economics from Springer, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().