Direct and Indirect Costs of Asthma in the United States: 2002-2007

The economic burden of asthma is an important measure of the impact of asthma on society. Although asthma is a costly illness, the total cost of asthma to society has not been estimated in over a decade. The purpose of this study is to provide the public with current estimates of the incremental direct medical costs and productivity losses due to morbidity and mortality from asthma at both the individual and the national level for the years 2002–2007. Data came from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. Two-part models were used to estimate the incremental direct costs of asthma. The incremental number of days lost from work and school was estimated by negative binomial regressions and valued following the human capital approach. Published data were used to value lives lost with an underlying cause of asthma. Over the years 2002–2007, the incremental direct cost of asthma was $2,489 (2009 dollars) per person per year. The value of additional days lost attributable to asthma per year was approximately $234 for each worker and $260 for each student. The current study finds that the estimated costs of asthma are substantial, which stresses the necessity for research and policy to work toward reducing the economic burden of asthma.