Medical Care Costs Associated with Genital Warts for Commercially Insured US Patients

Kristina R. Dahlstrom, Shuangshuang Fu, Wenyaw Chan, Zeena Shelal, Lois M. Ramondetta and David R. Lairson ()
Additional contact information
Kristina R. Dahlstrom: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Shuangshuang Fu: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Wenyaw Chan: The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Zeena Shelal: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Lois M. Ramondetta: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
David R. Lairson: The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

PharmacoEconomics, 2018, vol. 36, issue 11, No 6, 1355-1365

Abstract: Abstract Introduction Genital warts are caused by infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) and are associated with significant morbidity. Primary prevention of genital warts is possible through HPV vaccination, but vaccination rates remain low in the USA. When deciding to implement HPV vaccination programs, public health officials and policy makers rely on cost-effectiveness studies that accurately reflect costs associated with morbidity and mortality. However, previous information on the cost of treating genital warts was outdated. Objectives We estimated the mean direct medical care costs associated with genital warts in the USA. Methods This was a retrospective case–control study of patients diagnosed with genital warts and matched controls. We used commercial healthcare claims data from 2011 through 2014 to estimate total 1- and 2-year costs from date of diagnosis. We used a generalized linear model to identify factors associated with monthly costs. Results We identified 34,686 eligible cases of genital warts during the period 2011–2014. The first 2-year mean direct medical cost differences between cases and controls were US$6737 for the USA. Costs were significantly higher in the first 3 months following diagnosis and were higher among older individuals, women, those with co-morbidities or psychiatric illnesses, and those located in the south and southwest USA. Conclusions The mean direct cost of treating genital warts is approximately US$6700 in the first 2 years after diagnosis in the USA. These data can assist policy makers in decisions with respect to allocation of resources to implement HPV vaccine programs.

Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s40273-018-0691-9 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:pharme:v:36:y:2018:i:11:d:10.1007_s40273-018-0691-9

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/40273

DOI: 10.1007/s40273-018-0691-9

Access Statistics for this article

PharmacoEconomics is currently edited by Timothy Wrightson and Christopher I. Carswell

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