Resource use and direct medical costs of acute respiratory illness in the UK based on linked primary and secondary care records from 2001 to 2009

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 15; no. 8; p. e0236472
• Main Authors: Meier, Genevieve C, Watkins, John, McEwan, Phil, Pockett, Rhys D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: San Francisco Public Library of Science 06-08-2020; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Antibiotics; Biology and Life Sciences; Care and treatment; Chronic illnesses; Clinical decision making; Clinical medicine; Codes; Cost analysis; Cost assessments; Costs; Datasets; Decision making; Diabetes; Economic aspects; Epidemics; Funding; Health care; Health care costs; Health care rationing; Health economics; Hospitalization; Hospitals; Illnesses; Immunization; Infections; Influenza; Laboratories; Medicine and Health Sciences; Pandemics; Patient admissions; Patients; Population; Primary care; Public health; Respiratory diseases; Respiratory tract diseases; Seasons; Social Sciences; Statistics; Studies; Supervision; Vaccines; United Kingdom; United Kingdom > UK; United States > US; Wales
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0236472

Previous studies have shown that influenza is associated with a substantial healthcare burden in the United Kingdom (UK), but more studies are needed to evaluate the resource use and direct medical costs of influenza in primary care and secondary care. A retrospective observational database study in the UK to describe the primary care and directly-associated secondary care resource use, and direct medical costs of acute respiratory illness (ARI), according to age, and risk status (NCT Number: 01521416). Patients with influenza, ARI or influenza-related respiratory infections during 9 consecutive pre-pandemic influenza peak seasons were identified by READ codes in the linked Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) and Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) dataset. The study period was from 21st January 2001 to 31st March 2009. A total of 156,193 patients had [greater than or equal to]1 general practitioner (GP) episode of ARI, and a total of 82,204 patients received [greater than or equal to]1 GP prescription, at a mean of 2.5 (standard deviation [SD]: 3.0) prescriptions per patient. The total cost of GP consultations and prescriptions equated to £462,827 per year per 100,000 patients. The yearly cost of prescribed medication for ARI was £319,732, at an estimated cost of £11,596,350 per year extrapolated to the UK, with 40% attributable to antibiotics. The mean cost of hospital admissions equated to a yearly cost of £981,808 per 100,000 patients. The total mean direct medical cost of ARI over 9 influenza seasons was £21,343,445 (SD: £10,441,364), at £136.65 (SD: £66.85) per case. Extrapolating to the UK population, for pre-pandemic influenza seasons from 2001 to 2009, the direct medical cost of ARI equated to £86 million each year. More studies are needed to assess the costs of influenza disease to help guide public health decision-making for seasonal influenza in the UK.