title: Updated estimates of healthcare utilization and costs among perinatally HIV-infected children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study examined changes in healthcare use among perinatally HIV-infected children and developed new estimates of expected lifetime treatment costs.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study analyzed longitudinal medical record data from the Pediatric Spectrum of Disease study on perinatally HIV-infected children enrolled in 6 US sites during 1995 and 2001 for enrollee characteristics including healthcare utilization. For the year 2001, costs were assigned to hospitalization, HIV-related drug usage, and laboratory testing. To estimate lifetime treatment costs based on those categories, median survival times of 9, 15, and 25 years were assumed and average annual healthcare utilization costs were applied to each year of survival.
  
  
  RESULTS
  From 1995 to 2001, hospitalization rates fell from 0.67 per child-year to 0.23 per child-year (P < 0.05). In 2001, the average cost of healthcare utilization per child was $12,663, including $2164 for hospitalization, $9505 for HIV-related drugs, and $994 for laboratory tests. The discounted lifetime treatment cost, based on those 3 cost categories, was $113,476 for 9 years of survival, $151,849 for 15 years, and $228,155 for 25 years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Hospitalizations among perinatally HIV-infected children decreased significantly from 1995 to 2001. Compared with previously published estimates, lifetime treatment costs for children perinatally infected with HIV have remained relatively stable. However, as years of survival increase for this population, lifetime costs also are likely to increase.
authors.affiliation: Epidemiology Branch, Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30333, USA. ssansom@cdc.gov
authors.forename: Stephanie L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Sansom
authors.forename: John E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: Paul G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Farnham
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dominguez
authors.forename: Sada
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Soorapanth
authors.forename: Jill
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: Thom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sukalac
authors.forename: Mary Jo
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Earp
authors.forename: Beverly
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bohannon
authors.forename: Mary Glenn
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Fowler
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016527:Drug Costs; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000191:economics* / Q000635:transmission; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical / Q000191:economics*; D014481:United States