One study estimates that Lyme disease could cost the United States as much as $1 billion annually
Lyme disease places a significant financial burden on both patients and the healthcare system, according to a new retrospective cohort study, which found that costs are largely driven by cases that progress beyond the early stages of infection.
The study, published in the January issue of JAMA Network Open, analysed the electronic health records of more than 70,000 people diagnosed with Lyme disease between 2016 and 2022. Their data was compared with that of more than 210,000 control patients who did not have Lyme disease.
The researchers compared the costs of patients with early-stage disease to those with disseminated (chronic) disease. This means that the disease has progressed beyond the initial stage and is often associated with neurological, cardiac or joint complications.
The cost of an episode in the late stage is $6,800.
The direct healthcare costs of Lyme disease are significant, the researchers note. The average direct healthcare cost of a single episode of Lyme disease was $2,227, but this amount rose to $6,833 for those with disseminated disease, compared to $695 for early-stage infections. Although only 22% of Lyme disease patients develop the disseminated form, they accounted for nearly 70% of the total healthcare costs associated with Lyme disease.
During the six-month follow-up, the average total healthcare costs for all reasons among Lyme disease patients were nearly $4,100 higher than those among patients in the matched control group. Out-of-pocket costs also increased after diagnosis. The average Lyme disease-related costs borne by patients ranged from $188 to $399, with the greatest burden borne by those with disseminated disease.
“Projected onto the population of high-incidence states in the United States, the annual cost of Lyme disease could be between $591 million and $1.05 billion (in 2022 dollars), of which $411 million to $771 million is attributable to disseminated disease,” write the researchers, who concluded that effective prevention strategies could contribute to reducing Lyme disease-related costs at both the patient and healthcare system levels.
source: https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/lyme-disease/lyme-disease-costs-1-billion-annually-us-study-estimates
(C) Lyme Borreliosis Foundation
