Health insurance expenses caused by adolescents with a diagnosis of conduct disorder

Abstract

This study is based on data from a large German statutory health insurance organization. The index group (IG; N=665) consisted of patients aged 13–18 years with documented ICD-10 codes for conduct disorder and oppositional defiant order and was compared with an age- and sex-matched control group (CG; N=16,625). While mean expenses in the CG were 687 € per year, IG expenses were 3.83 times higher than that (2,632 €) (p<0.001). In both groups, females caused higher costs than males (IG: 2,883 € vs. 2,501 €, p=0.41; CG: 758 € vs. 649 €, p=0.22). In our study, adolescents with a documented diagnosis of conduct disorder caused significantly higher health insurance expenses than did adolescents without this diagnosis. These results underline the health-economic impact of this psychiatric disorder.