title: The economic burden of tuberculosis in Denmark 1998-2010. Cost analysis in patients and their spouses.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the economic burden of tuberculosis (TB) in Denmark,
  
  
  METHODS
  8,433 Danish TB-patients (1998-2010) were matched with 33,707 controls by age, gender, civil status and geography. Health-related costs (health system contacts and -procedures, medications) and socio-economic parameters (foregone earnings and social transfer expenses) were calculated on data from national databases. The same information was obtained for 3,485 spouses of TB-patients, and 17,403 controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Health-related costs were higher for cases throughout the period. Before diagnosis, cases posed € 1,180 more health costs per year than controls. Excess health costs in the 2 years around diagnosing and treating TB were € 10,509. Cases received an average excess public transfer income of € 3,345 before vs. € 3,121 after diagnosis. Average employment income deficiency was € 11,635 before vs. € 13,885 after diagnosis, but the increasing difference showed a linear shape throughout the period. Spouses also had lower income, more social transfer, and posed higher health-related costs than matched controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We estimate the direct costs per TB patient to be €10,509. TB patients and their households are characterized by increasingly lower employment income, lower employment rate, and higher dependency on public transfer, but the socio/economic deterioration is rather a risk factor for TB than a direct consequence of the disease.
authors: Department of Respiratory Medicine and Allergology, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark. Electronic address: andrniel@rm.dk.
authors: Andreas
authors: A
authors: Fløe
authors: Department of Respiratory Medicine and Allergology, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark.
authors: Ole
authors: O
authors: Hilberg
authors: Department of Infectious Diseases, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark.
authors: Christian
authors: C
authors: Wejse
authors: Department of Respiratory Medicine and Allergology, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark.
authors: Anders
authors: A
authors: Løkke
authors: iTracks, Klosterport 4E, 4, Aarhus, Denmark.
authors: Rikke
authors: R
authors: Ibsen
authors: Danish Institute for Local and Regional Government Research, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors: Jakob
authors: J
authors: Kjellberg
authors: Danish Center for Sleep Medicine, Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Center for Healthy Aging, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Glostrup Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors: Poul
authors: P
authors: Jennum
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003718:Denmark; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011203:Poverty; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D018454:Spouses; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000191:economics*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Tuberculosis; case-control studies; cost of illness; socioeconomic factors; spouses