Lyme borreliosis in Belgium : a cost-of-illness analysis
Background Lyme borreliosis (LB) is the most common tick-borne disease in Europe and North America, yet its economic burden remains largely unknown. This study aimed to estimate the economic cost associated with the different clinical manifestations of LB in Belgium. Methods An incidence approach and societal perspective were used to estimate the total cost-of-illness for LB in Belgium. Costs were calculated for patients with erythema migrans (EM) or disseminated/late LB, including patients who developed post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS). Direct medical, direct non-medical (transpor... Mehr ...
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Dokumenttyp: | journalarticle |
Erscheinungsdatum: | 2022 |
Verlag/Hrsg.: |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
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Schlagwörter: | Medicine and Health Sciences / Public Health / Environmental and Occupational Health / Belgium / Late Lyme borreliosis / Disseminated Lyme borreliosis |
Sprache: | Englisch |
Permalink: | https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-28550575 |
Datenquelle: | BASE; Originalkatalog |
Powered By: | BASE |
Link(s) : | https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/01GK1FVQ406RCSCSEC0TRP20Y4 |
Background Lyme borreliosis (LB) is the most common tick-borne disease in Europe and North America, yet its economic burden remains largely unknown. This study aimed to estimate the economic cost associated with the different clinical manifestations of LB in Belgium. Methods An incidence approach and societal perspective were used to estimate the total cost-of-illness for LB in Belgium. Costs were calculated for patients with erythema migrans (EM) or disseminated/late LB, including patients who developed post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS). Direct medical, direct non-medical (transportation & paid help) and indirect non-medical costs (productivity losses) were included in the analysis. Ambulatory cost data were collected through a prospective cohort study from June 2016 to March 2020, in which patients with LB were followed up 6 to 12 months after diagnosis. Hospitalization costs were retrieved from the Minimal Clinical Data registry, a mandatory registry for all Belgian hospitals, linked to the Minimal Financial Data registry. Costs were expressed in 2019 euros. Results The total annual cost associated with clinical manifestations of LB in Belgium was estimated at euro5.59 million (95% UI 3.82-7.98). Of these, euro3.44 million (95% UI 2.05-5.48) or 62% was related to disseminated/late LB diagnoses and euro2.15 million (95% UI 1.30-3.26) to EM. In general, direct medical costs and productivity losses accounted for 49.8% and 46.4% of the total costs, respectively, while direct non-medical costs accounted for only 3.8%. The estimated mean costs were euro193 per EM patient and euro5,148 per disseminated/late LB patient. While patients with PTLDS seemed to have somewhat higher costs compared to patients without PTLDS, the number of patients was too small to have representative estimates. Conclusions We estimate the total annual direct medical costs, direct non-medical and indirect non-medical costs associated with LB to exceed euro5.5 million per year, almost evenly distributed between EM (40%) and ...