Europe`s brain disorder bill hits 800 billion euros
October 6 (AZERTAC). The annual cost of brain disorders in Europe has soared to 798 billion euros ($1 trillion) and the region is facing a political, social and financial "ticking bomb" as more people fall prey to mental illnesses, researchers said on Tuesday, Reuters reports.
A study by the European Brain Council (EBC) said the bill for disorders such as depression, anxiety, insomnia and dementia, will rise as people live longer, making it "the number one economic challenge for European health care."
The cost projection comes in the wake of a study last month that found that Europeans are plagued by mental and neurological illnesses with almost 165 million people, or 38 percent of the European Union population, suffering each year.
The 798 billion euro figure -- which equates to 1,550 euros ($2,000) per person in Europe -- is more than double the estimate made by a previous EBC study, published in 2005.
"The increasing burden and the associated increasing cost of disorders of the brain is a ticking bomb under the European economy and the EU society as a whole," said the report by experts in Britain, Germany, Italy, Sweden and across Europe.
They called for a major increase in research funding and resources to help fend off the threat.
Some big drug companies, in Europe particularly GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca, have been backing away from investment into research on how the brain works and affects behavior, putting the onus on governments and health charities to stump up funding for neuroscience.
Experts say stricter European regulations for drugs with an effect on the central nervous system have been partly to blame, as has the industry`s recent lack of success in developing effective brain disease medicines.
The trend of pharmaceutical companies leaving Europe in favor of the United States, China and India has also undermined the industry`s private-public co-operation with the European Commission, the Brain Council`s report said.
The study looked at more than 100 mental and neurological disorders -- ranging from headaches, migraines and sleep disorders to strokes, Parkinson`s disease, psychotic disorders and dementia -- and described their economic and social impact as "immense and expanding."
The cost of brain disorders is substantially higher than other long-term or chronic illnesses like heart disease or cancer. The European Heart Network set the EU cost of cardiovascular disease at 192 billion euros in 2008, while the total annual cancer cost is estimated at 150-250 billion euros.
Without action, the situation can only get worse, the report said.
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