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Airway Disease Economic Impact
The cost of airway disease to the health care delivery system and society at large is substantial with nearly $30 billion in direct and indirect costs expended annually.
- Allergies account for 17 million outpatient visits for allergic rhinitis and 18 million office visits result in a diagnosis of sinusitis, equaling $8 billion in annual costs with $6 billion in direct health care costs
- Asthma costs $18 billion annually with $11.5 billion in direct health care costs
- Asthma accounts for some 15 million outpatient office visits, 2 million ER visits and 500,000 hospitalizations per year
- Asthma is the leading cause of missed school days (14 million) and more hospitalizations than any other childhood disease.
- Asthma and allergies are the fourth and fifth leading cause of work absenteeism, respectively, resulting in some 20 million lost work days each year and $4 billion in lost productivity.
There were more than 12 million physician office visits because of allergic rhinitis in 2006.
In one study, 55% of patients with sinusitis also had a history of allergic rhinitis.
Sinusitis is one of the leading forms of chronic disease, with an estimated 18 million cases and at least 30 million courses of antibiotics per year.
Asthma accounts for 217,000 emergency room visits and 10.5 million physician office visits every year.