The economic cost of non-communicable diseases (NCDs)

Direct costs are monetary expenditure attributed to medical and non-medical measures. Indirect costs do not involve money but a loss of resources occurs, mostly due to reduced productivity (e.g. absence from work). Intangible costs such as pain or sorrow are not included in this cost estimate.

The indicator shows an estimate for the direct costs of all NCDs, which are further subdivided into the following three financing schemes:

• Social insurance: Mandatory health insurance (incl. cost sharing), other social insurance (e.g. disability insurance), other public financing
• Private: Private insurance, other private financing, self-payments
• State: Confederation, cantons, communes

In addition, the total of the direct and indirect costs of the seven most important NCDs is shown: Cardiovascular diseases, musculoskeletal diseases, mental disorders, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, dementia, diabetes and other NCDs.

Detailed definitions and calculations can be found in the study of Wieser et al. (2014).

• Stucki, M., Wieser, S. (2021). Die Kosten der nichtübertragbaren Krankheiten in der Schweiz. Additional evaluation of cost units. Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), Winterthur. Study commissioned by the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), not published.
• Wieser, S. et al. (2014). Die Kosten der nichtübertragbaren Krankheiten in der Schweiz. Schlussbericht. Study commissioned by the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH). Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), Winterthur: Study (in German, Excecutive Summary in English).

• Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) (2016). Federal Office of Public Health, Berne: Factsheet (in German, French and Italian).