International Systematic Review on High Utilizers Diagnosed with Severe Mental Illness

Objective: No international review has been published on the economic burden of high utilizers (HUs) diagnosed with severe mental illness (SMI). In this review, we aimed to identify healthcare costs and service use of HUs diagnosed with SMI on a global basis. Methods: Three separate searches yielded peer-reviewed sources (N = 3051). We used a quality index to determine the rigor of research methods in selected studies. Results: We reduced sources based on inclusion criteria and removal of duplicates (N = 19). Conclusions: Current research fails to quantify global healthcare costs associated with HUs diagnosed with SMI. The most frequent services sought by HUs diagnosed with SMI were for chronic mental health conditions. The most prevalent and costly diagnosis was schizophrenia.