Financial Impact
Asthma has caused an expense of about $3,300 per person each year from 2002 to 2007. The costs include medical expenses, missed school and work days, and early deaths. The costs that make up this total consists of both direct costs and indirect costs. To add on to that, on average, children missed 4 days of school and adults missed 5 days of work in 2008. Missing these days of work or school will result in less income or diminished skills learned in school that could possibly affect the future of these students. Along with medical fees, a few direct costs include the medication and treatment needed to manage asthma symptoms. Indirect costs include gas prices or parking prices.
When treating asthma, it will cost the health center to treat the patient as well. It requires various resources including human resources, trained professionals, and materials required to treat the patient. Direct costs include medicines needed, spacers and other devices such as acute ambulatory, emergency and inpatient hospital care, as well as patient education and asthma management planning. Costs can also rise up when the person with asthma has multiple respiratory track symptoms that result in more asthma related visits. Sometimes a diagnostic test may be needed as well. Expenses tend to be higher with women, older patients, those who require to stay in the health center for a extended amount of time, and those with greater severity of the disease.
In total, asthma is one of the highest for non-communicable diseases. Although the exact cost is unknown, a 2009 systematic review found 8 national studies that reported total costs which illustrated the substantial impact. When reported into US dollars, the costs were very high. The reports for cost of asthma were:
When treating asthma, it will cost the health center to treat the patient as well. It requires various resources including human resources, trained professionals, and materials required to treat the patient. Direct costs include medicines needed, spacers and other devices such as acute ambulatory, emergency and inpatient hospital care, as well as patient education and asthma management planning. Costs can also rise up when the person with asthma has multiple respiratory track symptoms that result in more asthma related visits. Sometimes a diagnostic test may be needed as well. Expenses tend to be higher with women, older patients, those who require to stay in the health center for a extended amount of time, and those with greater severity of the disease.
In total, asthma is one of the highest for non-communicable diseases. Although the exact cost is unknown, a 2009 systematic review found 8 national studies that reported total costs which illustrated the substantial impact. When reported into US dollars, the costs were very high. The reports for cost of asthma were:
- Canada: $654 million
- Germany: $4,430 million and $2,740 million
- Singapore: $49.36 million
- Switzerland: $1,413 million
- USA: $7,189 million, $8,256 million and $2,300 million