Close Shara, Marshall-Gradisnik Sonya, Byrnes Joshua, Smith Peter, Nghiem Son, Staines Don
Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, NT, Australia.
National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Diseases, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia.
Front Public Health. 2020 Aug 21;8:420. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2020.00420. eCollection 2020.
This study aims to estimate direct and indirect health economic costs associated with government and out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditure based on health care service utilization and lost income of participants and carers, as reported by Australian Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) patient survey participants. A cost of illness study was conducted to estimate Australian cost data for individuals with a ME/CFS diagnosis as determined by the Canadian Consensus Criteria (CCC), International Consensus Criteria (ICC), and the 1994 CDC Criteria (Fukuda). Survey participants identified from a research registry database provided self-report of expenditure associated with ME/CFS related healthcare across a 1-month timeframe between 2017 and 2019. ME/CFS related direct annual government health care costs, OOP health expenditure costs, indirect costs associated with lost income and health care service use patterns. The mean annual cost of health care related expenditure and associated income loss among survey participants meeting diagnostic criteria for ME/CFS was estimated at $14.5 billion. For direct OOP and Government health care expenditure, high average costs were related to medical practitioner attendance, diagnostics, natural medicines, and device expenditure, with an average attendance of 10.6 referred attendances per annum and 12.1 GP visits per annum related specifically to managing ME/CFS. The economic impacts of ME/CFS in Australia are significant. Improved understanding of the illness pathology, diagnosis, and management, may reduce costs, improve patient prognosis and decrease the burden of ME/CFS in Australia.
本研究旨在根据澳大利亚肌痛性脑脊髓炎/慢性疲劳综合征（ME/CFS）患者调查参与者报告的医疗服务利用情况以及参与者和护理人员的收入损失，估算与政府支出和自付费用相关的直接和间接健康经济成本。开展了一项疾病成本研究，以估算根据加拿大共识标准（CCC）、国际共识标准（ICC）和1994年美国疾病控制与预防中心标准（福田标准）确诊为ME/CFS的澳大利亚患者的成本数据。从研究注册数据库中识别出的调查参与者提供了2017年至2019年1个月时间范围内与ME/CFS相关医疗保健支出的自我报告。ME/CFS相关的政府年度直接医疗保健成本、自付医疗支出成本、与收入损失相关的间接成本以及医疗服务使用模式。符合ME/CFS诊断标准的调查参与者中，与医疗保健相关的年度支出和相关收入损失的平均成本估计为145亿美元。对于直接自付费用和政府医疗保健支出，高平均成本与医生诊疗、诊断、天然药物和设备支出相关，每年平均转诊就诊10.6次，每年专门用于管理ME/CFS的全科医生就诊12.1次。ME/CFS在澳大利亚的经济影响巨大。更好地了解疾病病理、诊断和管理，可能会降低成本、改善患者预后并减轻澳大利亚ME/CFS的负担。
