Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #121558

Rahul Ganguly, PhD¹, C. Ron Cantrell, PhD¹, and Gerald. B. Ferguson². (1) Medical Affairs Commercial Operations, GlaxoSmithKline, US Pharmaceuticals, Five Moore Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-3398, 919 483 2773, rahul.x.ganguly@gsk.com, (2) GlaxoSmithKline, 1 Franklin Plaza, Philadelphia, PA 19101

Introduction: A recent rise in the incidence of adolescent pertussis has prompted the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) to recommend to the CDC that Pertussis vaccination (Tdap) be administered to all adolescents age 11 – 18. This establishes the need to estimate the economic burden of adolescent pertussis within commercial managed care populations. Methods: A retrospective matched case-control study was conducted using administrative claims data, January 2003 through June 2004, from the National Managed Care Benchmark Database. 'Cases' were defined as enrollees age 10 to 18 years, continuously enrolled for at least 4 months, who were diagnosed with pertussis (ICD-9CM = 033.XX). Total cost and cost by category of service incurred by ‘cases' 2 months prior to and 2 months post their initial pertussis diagnosis (episode = total of 4 months) was compared to the cost incurred by ‘controls' (without Pertussis diagnosis) matched by gender, age and geographic location over the same time period. Results: 478 pertussis cases and controls were randomly selected representing identical demographic and eligibility profiles (average age: 14.5 years, 51% females). The 4-month cost of a pertussis episode was $955 which was $405 higher (p<0.05) than a matched control ($550). The difference in episode cost was driven primarily by higher cost of professional services ($176) which included physician costs and diagnostic costs and higher pharmacy costs ($153). Conclusion: Analysis suggests that the cost of managing patients diagnosed with pertussis was significantly higher ($405 higher) than the cost of caring for similar members without a pertussis diagnosis.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize the economic burden of Pertussis in the adolescent population
• Describe the importance of adolescent vaccination and potential risk of disease and economic burden for unvaccinated children.

Keywords: Adolescent Health, Immunizations

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commertial supporters WITH THE EXCEPTION OF GlaxoSmithKline.