Cost effectiveness of olanzapine in prevention of affective episodes in bipolar disorder in the United Kingdom

Olanzapine significantly reduced the annual number of acute mood episodes per patient from 0.81 to 0.58 compared to lithium.

• The model was developed to evaluate cost effectiveness from the UK National Health Service perspective over a 1-year period.
• Patients were modeled after stabilization of a manic episode and treated with either olanzapine or lithium.
• Average annual care costs per patient decreased by 799 UK pounds, primarily due to fewer inpatient days, although this cost difference was not statistically significant.
• Sensitivity analysis indicated that results were robust to changes in model parameters.
• Using olanzapine as maintenance therapy for bipolar I disorder may reduce the rate of acute mood events and associated hospital costs.

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