Societal Cost of Racial Pneumococcal Disease Disparities in US Adults Aged 50 Years or Older

Shoroq M. Altawalbeh (), Angela R. Wateska (), Mary Patricia Nowalk (), Chyongchiou J. Lin (), Lee H. Harrison (), William Schaffner (), Richard K. Zimmerman () and Kenneth J. Smith ()
Additional contact information
Shoroq M. Altawalbeh: University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Angela R. Wateska: University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Mary Patricia Nowalk: University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Chyongchiou J. Lin: The Ohio State University College of Nursing
Lee H. Harrison: University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
William Schaffner: Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Richard K. Zimmerman: University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Kenneth J. Smith: University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, 2024, vol. 22, issue 1, No 7, 71 pages

Abstract: Abstract Objective This study aimed to estimate the societal cost of racial disparities in pneumococcal disease among US adults aged ≥ 50 years. Methods In a model-based analysis, societal costs of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) and hospitalized nonbacteremic pneumococcal pneumonia (NBP) were estimated using (1) direct medical costs plus indirect costs of acute illness; (2) indirect costs of pneumococcal mortality; and (3) direct and indirect costs of related disability. Disparities costs were calculated as differences in average per-person pneumococcal disease cost between Black and non-Black adults aged ≥ 50 years multiplied by the Black population aged ≥ 50 years. Costs were in 2019 US dollars (US$), with future costs discounted at 3% per year. Results Total direct and indirect costs per IPD case were US$186,791 in Black populations and US$182,689 in non-Black populations; total hospitalized NBP costs per case were US$100,632 (Black) and US$96,781 (non-Black). The difference in population per-person total pneumococcal disease costs between Black and non-Black adults was US$47.85. Combined societal costs of disparities for IPD and hospitalized NBP totaled US$673.2 million for Black adults aged ≥ 50 years. Disease and disability risks, life expectancy, and case-fatality rates were influential in one-way sensitivity analyses, but the lowest cost across all analyses was US$194 million. The 95% probability range of racial disparity costs were US$227.2–US$1156.9 million in a probabilistic sensitivity analysis. Conclusions US societal cost of racial pneumococcal disease disparities in persons aged ≥ 50 years is substantial. Successful pneumococcal vaccination policy and programmatic interventions to mitigate these disparities could decrease costs and improve health.

Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s40258-023-00854-0 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:aphecp:v:22:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1007_s40258-023-00854-0

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/40258

DOI: 10.1007/s40258-023-00854-0

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Health Economics and Health Policy is currently edited by Timothy Wrightson

More articles in Applied Health Economics and Health Policy from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().