Direct health care costs of occupational asthma in Spain: an estimation from 2008.
BACKGROUND
Occupational asthma (OA) is the most common work-related disease in industrialized countries. In 2008, only 556 cases of OA had been diagnosed in Spain, which is quite far from even the most conservative estimates. In this context, the aim of this paper is to estimate the number of asthma cases attributable to the work setting in Spain in 2008 as well as the related health care costs for the same year.


METHODS
The number of cases of OA was calculated from estimates of attributable risk given by previous studies. The cost estimation focused on direct health-care costs and it was based both on data from the National Health System's (NHS) analytical accounting and from secondary sources.


RESULTS
The number of prevalent cases of work-related asthma in Spain during 2008 ranges between 168 713 and 204 705 cases based on symptomatic diagnosis, entailing an associated cost from 318.1 to 355.8 million Euros. These figures fall to a range between 82 635 and 100 264 cases when bronchial hyperreactivity is included as a diagnostic criterion, at a cost of 155.8-174.3 million Euros. Slightly more than 18 million Euros represent the health-care costs of those cases requiring specialized care.


CONCLUSIONS
Estimations of OA are very relevant to adequately prevent this disease. The treatment of OA, which involves a significant cost, is being financed by the NHS, although it should be covered by Social Security.
Subdirección General de Sanidad Ambiental y Salud Laboral. Ministerio de Sanidad, Política Social e Igualdad, Madrid, Spain. mgarciag@mspsi.es
Montserrat
M
García Gómez
Rosa
R
Urbanos Garrido
Rosario
R
Castañeda López
Patricia
P
López Menduiña
D000328:Adult; D001249:Asthma / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017721:Hospital Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006753:Hospital Records / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology; D010351:Patient Discharge; D015995:Prevalence; D012306:Risk; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult