Costs Of Digestive Diseases Has Grown To More Than $141 Billion A Year: NIH Report

Main Category: GastroIntestinal / Gastroenterology
Also Included In: Liver Disease / Hepatitis;  Primary Care / General Practice;  Public Health
Article Date: 12 Feb 2009 - 1:00 PDT

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Digestive, liver and pancreatic diseases result in more than 100 million outpatient visits and 13 million hospitalizations annually at a cost of $141.8 billion. A new report commissioned by the National Institutes of Health finds that costs, doctor visits, prescription costs and hospitalizations related to digestive diseases have risen significantly in recent years. The Burden of Digestive Diseases in the United States report is summarized in Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute.

"This report gives us the best recent update on the toll digestive diseases exact on patients and society - and there are both positive and negative trends," said James E. Everhart, MD, MPH of the Division of Digestive Diseases and Nutrition, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, and lead author of the study. "While deaths from digestive diseases have gradually declined over the last 25 years, they still result in more than 230 thousand deaths per year. Some diseases stand out in significance. For example, outpatient visits and hospitalizations for gastroesophageal reflux disease increased several fold in the last 15 years with a corresponding increase in the incidence of its complication of esophageal cancer."

Notable findings include:

• Doctor visits increased more than 50 percent since 2000 (100M in 2004; 45M in 2000).
  
  
• Hospitalizations exceeded 13 million in 2004 (up >4M since 2002).
  
  
• Indirect costs1 more than doubled since 1998 ($20B in 1998; $44 B in 2004).
  
  
• Direct costs2 topped $97 billion in 2004, up from $85 billion in 1998.
  
  
• Deaths related to digestive diseases gradually declined between 1979 and 2004 (236 M), which is largely attributable to a decrease in colorectal cancer mortality due to increased screening rates.
  
  
• Nearly 136 million prescriptions have been written for digestive diseases, costing more than $12 billion.

According to the report, the 10 most costly digestive diseases in both direct and indirect costs are:

1. Digestive cancers: $24.1 billion [$9.5 billion cost of colorectal cancer, $4.3 billion cost for pancreatic cancer are included in the digestive cancers total]
   
   
2. Liver disease: $13.1 billion
   
   
3. Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD): $12.6 billion
   
   
4. Gallstones: $6.2 billion
   
   
5. Abdominal wall hernia: $6.1 billion
   
   
6. Diverticular disease: $4.0 billion
   
   
7. Pancreatitis: $3.7 billion
   
   
8. Viral hepatitis (A, B, C): $3.3 billion
   
   
9. Peptic ulcer disease: $3.1 billion
   
   
10. Appendicitis: $2.6 billion

The Burden of Digestive Diseases in the United States is part of the National Commission on Digestive Diseases at the NIH. The AGA worked with our champions in Congress to propose the Commission, which was established to enhance research on digestive diseases for the benefit of patients and their families. The Commission has conducted an overview of the state of the science in digestive diseases research and is developing a 10-year plan for digestive diseases research. Implementing the recommendations of the National Commission on Digestive Diseases is one of the AGA's highest research priorities. AGA encourages NIH to convene an oversight body and to develop an estimated 'professional judgment budget' for implementation of the Commission's long-range plan for digestive disease research.

"This report quantifies the substantial and growing burden of digestive diseases on patients and our health- care system. There is a tremendous need for more research into the causes, diagnosis and treatment of digestive diseases," according to Robert S. Sandler, MD, AGAF, president of the AGA Institute. "At the same time, the report identifies conditions that are costly but understudied such as diverticular disease and appendicitis where there is a high burden but little research."

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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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The AGA provides guides for patients suffering from digestive diseases at http://www.gastro.org/patient.

The complete Burden of Digestive Diseases Report can be found at here.

1. Indirect costs are comprised of the implicit value of forgone earnings or production owing to consumption of hospital or ambulatory care, premature death and additional work loss associated with acute and chronic digestive diseases as well as the value of leisure time owing to morbidity and mortality.

2. Direct costs for digestive diseases include charges for hospital services, physician services, prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, nursing home care, home health care, hospice care and outpatient endoscopy.

About the AGA Institute

The American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) is dedicated to the mission of advancing the science and practice of gastroenterology. Founded in 1897, the AGA is one of the oldest medical-specialty societies in the U.S. Comprised of two non-profit organizations - the AGA and the AGA Institute - our more than 16,000 members include physicians and scientists who research, diagnose and treat disorders of the gastrointestinal tract and liver. The AGA, a 501(c6) organization, administers all membership and public policy activities, while the AGA Institute, a 501(c3) organization, runs the organization's practice, research and educational programs. On a monthly basis, the AGA Institute publishes two highly respected journals, Gastroenterology and Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. The organization's annual meeting is Digestive Disease Week®, which is held each May and is the largest international gathering of physicians, researchers and academics in the fields of gastroenterology, hepatology, endoscopy and gastrointestinal surgery. For more information, please visit http://www.gastro.org.

About Gastroenterology

Gastroenterology, the official journal of the AGA Institute, is the most prominent scientific journal in the specialty and is in the top 1 percent of indexed medical journals internationally. The journal publishes clinical and basic science studies of all aspects of the digestive system, including the liver and pancreas, as well as nutrition. The journal is abstracted and indexed in Biological Abstracts, CABS, Chemical Abstracts, Current Contents, Excerpta Medica, Index Medicus, Nutrition Abstracts and Science Citation Index. For more information, visit http://www.gastrojournal.org.

Source: Aimee Frank
American Gastroenterological Association