Associated Health Costs - United States
http://www.epidemic.org/theFacts/theEpidemic/USHealthCareCosts/
Although few prospective long-term survival and health care cost
studies are available for hepatitis C, it has been possible to
estimate the life-long economic impact of the disease for both
the individual patient and for the U.S. population with chronic
hepatitis B. Lifetime health care costs for a patient with
chronic hepatitis B has been estimated at $65,000 in the absence
of liver transplantation. For the 150,000 HBV carriers with
significant liver damage, the lifetime health care costs in the
U.S. have been estimated to be $9 billion. Assuming an estimated
survival of 25 years, the annual health care costs for the
affected U.S. population with chronic hepatitis B is $360
million. Based on the same economic analysis, treatment of
chronic hepatitis B with interferon is projected to increase
life expectancy by about three years and reduce the aggregate
health care costs.
Hepatitis C can only represent a far greater economic cost.
While it infects about 3 and a half more times as many people in
the United States than does hepatitis B, more than 80% of
hepatitis C patients will develop chronic liver disease, as
compared to only 20% of hepatitis B patients. Limited data
suggest that 15-20% of those with chronic hepatitis C will
develop cirrhosis within a five-year period, and as many as 25%
may have cirrhosis by 10-20 years. The risk of developing liver
cancer is uncertain, but may approach or exceed 1% during the
first 20 years of infection and increase thereafter. Hepatitis C
is responsible for about one-third of all liver transplants in
the United States.
Approximately 1,000 patients are transplanted each year for
liver disease due to hepatitis C. With the cost per liver
transplantation in the range of $280,000 for one year, liver
transplantation for hepatitis C alone reaches a cost of nearly
$300 million per year.
Moreover, the average lifetime cost for hepatitis C, in the
absence of liver transplant, has been estimated to be about
$100,000 for individual patients. Assuming that 80% of the 4.5
million Americans believed to be infected develop chronic liver
disease, the total lifetime cost for this group (3.6 million)
will be a staggering $360 billion in today's dollars. Assuming
an estimated survival of 40 years, the annual health care costs
for the affected U.S. population with chronic hepatitis C may be
as high as $9 billion.
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