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The burden of illness and economic evaluation for COPD

¹ Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the Dept of Pharmacy, and ² the Dept of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

CORRESPONDENCE: S.D. Ramsey, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 1100 Fairview Avenue North (MP-900), PO Box 19024, Seattle, WA 98109, USA. Fax: 1 2066677850. E-mail: sramsey@fhcrc.org

Keywords: direct medical costs, direct nonmedical costs, economic evaluations, friction costs, human capital, productivity costs

Received: August 21, 2002
Accepted February 20, 2003

In today's cost-conscious environment, understanding the economic implications associated with disease processes and their treatments is as important as understanding their clinical impact.

Medical expenditures for treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and the indirect costs of morbidity can represent a substantial economic and social burden. Very little economic information concerning COPD is available, however, particularly outside of a few very well-developed Western nations.

This article will provide an approach for conducting high-quality studies aimed at estimating the economic burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and for making economic evaluations of healthcare interventions aimed at preventing and treating this disease.