Total economic burden by category

Adds the mutually exclusive cost categories included under the stated study perspective and boundary.

Signature

B_total = sum_(k=1)^K B_k
Output
B_totalSum of all included mutually exclusive attributable burden categoriescurrency
  • B_k Attributable cost or valued economic consequence in included category k (currency)
  • K Number of mutually exclusive categories permitted by the study perspective and boundary (count)

Function

Economic-burden estimation function

Maps attributable resource use losses population counts and valuation assumptions to the economic burden of a disease injury or risk factor.

Implementations

  • Excel

    Calculate total economic burden

    Excel sums the included mutually exclusive burden categories.

    =SUM(IncludedBurdenCategories)

Assumptions

  • Mutually exclusive categories

    Included cost categories do not overlap or count the same resource loss or consequence more than once.

  • Common valuation basis

    All categories use a compatible currency, price year, population, perspective and costing period.

Worked examples

  • Annual societal burden

    Direct medical costs are £60 million, direct non-medical costs £4 million, informal care £16 million and productivity losses £30 million. Total annual burden is £110 million.

    B_total = 60000000 + 4000000 + 16000000 + 30000000 = 110000000

Common errors

  • Treating economic burden as recoverable savings

    The total burden is a valuation of associated resources and losses and does not show how much cash an intervention could release.

Sources

  • Cost-of-illness methods review for burden categories

    Jo C. Cost-of-illness studies: concepts, scopes, and methods. Clinical and Molecular Hepatology. 2014;20(4):327–337.

    View source

Canonical Identity

Stable URI · Machine-readable · Resolvable · CC BY 4.0

Total economic burden by category | HealthEconomics.wiki