Economic burden of common variable immunodeficiency: annual cost of disease.

OBJECTIVES

In the context of the unknown economic burden imposed by primary immunodeficiency diseases, in this study, we sought to calculate the costs associated with the most prevalent symptomatic disease, common variable immunodeficiency (CVID).

METHODS

Direct, indirect and intangible costs were recorded for diagnosed CVID patients. Hidden Markov model was used to evaluate different disease-related factors and Monte Carlo method for estimation of uncertainty intervals.

RESULTS

The total estimated cost of diagnosed CVID is US$274,200/patient annually and early diagnosis of the disease can save US$6500. Hospital admission cost (US$25,000/patient) accounts for the most important expenditure parameter before diagnosis, but medication cost (US$40,600/patients) was the main factor after diagnosis primarily due to monthly administration of immunoglobulin.

CONCLUSION

The greatest cost-determining factor in our study was the cost of treatment, spent mostly on immunoglobulin replacement therapy of the patients. It was also observed that CVID patients' costs are reduced after diagnosis due to appropriate management.