RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Current and future costs of asthma in the Netherlands
JF European Respiratory Journal
JO Eur Respir J
FD European Respiratory Society
SP P284
VO 42
IS Suppl 57
A1 Anita Suijkerbuijk
A1 Rudolf Hoogenveen
A1 Ardine De Wit
A1 Alet Wijga
A1 Martine Hoogendoorn
A1 Maureen Rutten-van Mölken
A1 Talitha Feenstra
YR 2013
UL http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/42/Suppl_57/P284.abstract
AB Objective To determine costs of care and productivity losses for asthma and to project future prevalence of asthma and its costs.Methods A prevalence-based cost of illness study was performed for the year 2007. National registrations and surveys were used to estimate the different types of health care resource use, specified by age and gender, which were multiplied by unit costs. Absence from work and loss of job were obtained from a linkage study, combining GP registry data with data on productivity losses from Statistics Netherlands. These were valued using the friction cost or human capital method to result in two alternative estimates. Finally a population model was developed to obtain estimates of future costs of care.Results Healthcare costs for asthma in 2007 were estimated to be €287 million or €530 per patient. About 70% of these costs were medication related. Costs of sick leave and early retirement due to asthma totalled €621 or €288 million, that is €2800 or €1300 per employee with asthma for human capital and friction cost method respectively. These costs rose with age.Over the next 25 years, the number of patients with asthma will rise by 28%, reflecting a recent trend in incidence that is now stabilizing. This will lead to a doubling of the costs of care.Conclusions The expected rise in the number of patients with asthma, and especially the number of elderly asthma patients, and the associated costs of healthcare and production losses provide important information for healthcare policy in the Netherlands.