Economic Burden of Common Variable Immunodeficiency: Annual Cost of Disease Publisher Pubmed



Sadeghi B¹ ; Abolhassani H^{1, 2} ; Naseri A³ ; Rezaei N¹ ; Aghamohammadi A¹ Show Affiliations
Source: Expert Review of Clinical Immunology Published:2015

Abstract

Objectives: In the context of the unknown economic burden imposed by primary immunodeficiency diseases, in this study, we sought to calculate the costs associated with the most prevalent symptomatic disease, common variable immunodeficiency (CVID). Methods: Direct, indirect and intangible costs were recorded for diagnosed CVID patients. Hidden Markov model was used to evaluate different disease-related factors and Monte Carlo method for estimation of uncertainty intervals. Results: The total estimated cost of diagnosed CVID is US$274,200/patient annually and early diagnosis of the disease can save US$6500. Hospital admission cost (US$25,000/patient) accounts for the most important expenditure parameter before diagnosis, but medication cost (US$40,600/patients) was the main factor after diagnosis primarily due to monthly administration of immunoglobulin. Conclusion: The greatest cost-determining factor in our study was the cost of treatment, spent mostly on immunoglobulin replacement therapy of the patients. It was also observed that CVID patients' costs are reduced after diagnosis due to appropriate management. © 2015 Informa UK, Ltd.