Objective: To examine factors that influence drug costs in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and to compare the costs in two different countries.
Methods: We examined drug costs among 438 patients with PD (286 from Germany and 152 from Norway) and collected information on the patients' age, medication, disease duration, and Hoehn & Yahr stage.
Results: Drug expenses rose with increasing severity and duration of the disease. This increase differed somewhat between the two countries. Mean drug costs per day and patient in the German group was Euro 5.78 while it was Euro 3.92 in the Norwegian group. A higher proportion of the German patients were treated with two or more drugs, and the switch from mono- to multi-drug therapy was done earlier in the course of the disease. Dopamine agonists caused 44% of total drug costs in both countries.
Conclusion: Different management strategies of PD have a great impact on drug costs. Surveillance of prescription habits and careful cost/benefit analyses are therefore important.