title: [Bronchial asthma--a cost of illness analysis].
abstract: We performed an economic evaluation of the costs of asthma in Germany. Estimates of direct medical expenditures and indirect costs were derived from official health statistics of 1992. Adding up direct and indirect costs, the total sum is approximately 2.66 billions ECU which is equivalent to 5.13 billions DM or 3.11 billions US-$, respectively, for a total population of 80.3 millions. Direct costs make up 61.5% of this sum and comprise of outpatient medical care, drugs, hospital treatment, rehabilitation and compensation for occupational asthma as well as sickness benefits. Indirect costs of 38.5% are caused by payments for days off work, premature retirement and premature death due to asthma. Based on these figures, we speculate that an optimised treatment according to published recommendations should be accompanied by a reduction of the high amount of indirect costs.
authors.affiliation: Ordinariat für Arbeitsmedizin, Hamburg.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nowak
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Volmer
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wettengel
mesh_terms: D001249:Asthma / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000191:economics
vernacular_title: Asthma bronchiale--eine Krankheitskostenanalyse.