The Price of a Neglected Zoonosis: Case-Control Study to Estimate Healthcare Utilization Costs of Human Brucellosis

Oded Vered, Tzahit Simon-Tuval, Pablo Yagupsky, Miki Malul, Assi Cicurel and Nadav Davidovitch

PLOS ONE, 2015, vol. 10, issue 12, 1-10

Abstract: Human brucellosis has reemerged as a serious public health threat to the Bedouin population of southern Israel in recent years. Little is known about its economic implications derived from elevated healthcare utilization (HCU). Our objective was to estimate the HCU costs associated with human brucellosis from the insurer perspective. A case-control retrospective study was conducted among Clalit Health Services (CHS) enrollees. Brucellosis cases were defined as individuals that were diagnosed with brucellosis at the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory of Soroka University Medical Center in the 2010–2012 period (n = 470). Control subjects were randomly selected and matched 1:3 by age, sex, clinic, and primary physician (n = 1,410). HCU data, demographic characteristics and comorbidities were obtained from CHS computerized database. Mean±SD age of the brucellosis cases was 26.6±17.6 years. 63% were male and 85% were Bedouins. No significant difference in Charlson comorbidity index was found between brucellosis cases and controls (0.41 vs. 0.45, respectively, P = 0.391). Before diagnosis (baseline), the average total annual HCU cost of brucellosis cases was slightly yet significantly higher than that of the control group ($439 vs. $382, P

Date: 2015
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0145086

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0145086

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