Healthcare resource utilization and costs of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis patients with advanced liver disease in Italy

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in adults 2021: A clinical practice guideline of the Italian Association for the Study of the Liver (AISF), the Italian Society of Diabetology (SID) and the Italian Society of Obesity (SIO)

“…In the past few years NAFLD emerged as a common liver disease in adults frequently associated with metabolic alterations, and as a leading cause of HCC and liver decompensation, finally impacting resource utilization and costs of the Healthcare systems. Also in Italy, the cost associated with NAFLD for the National Health System is rapidly increasing [28] . The growing interest for NAFLD lead to the development of new diagnostic tools and algorithms to identify and refer patients at high risk of liver damage to liver specialists for assessment and treatment.…”

“…The lifetime costs of all NASH patients in the United States in 2017 is estimated at $222.6 billion, and the cost of the advanced NASH population at $95.4 billion [27] . Data from Italian local Health Units, based on administrative data and resources utilization, calculated an average direct cost for NAFLD/NASH progressively increasing from the non-advanced stage, to advanced NAFLD disease, compensated cirrhosis, liver transplant, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), also driven by comorbidities, up to over € 65.0 0 0/year [28] . Considering the projections calculated by disease modeling for the next decades, the total costs is likely to become very challenging for the National Health system [29] .…”

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in adults 2021: A clinical practice guideline of the Italian Association for the Study of the Liver (AISF), the Italian Society of Diabetology (SID) and the Italian Society of Obesity (SIO)

“…The lifetime costs of all NASH patients in the United States in 2017 is estimated at $222.6 billion, and the cost of the advanced NASH population at $95.4 billion [ 27 ]. Data from Italian local Health Units, based on administrative data and resources utilization, calculated an average direct cost for NAFLD/NASH progressively increasing from the non-advanced stage, to advanced NAFLD disease, compensated cirrhosis, liver transplant, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), also driven by comorbidities, up to over € 65,000/year [ 28 ]. Considering the projections calculated by disease modelling for the next decades, the total costs is likely to become very challenging for the National Health system [ 28 ].…”

Economic Burden of Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH) Among Diabetic Population in Italy: Analysis and Perspectives

“…The researchers looked at data from 9729 Italian patients with NAFLD/NASH who were hospitalized between 2011 and 2017 and identified 131 individuals (1.3%) with CC, 303 (3.1%) with DCC, 11 (0.1%) with LT and 79 (0.8%) with HCC. 9 NAFLD/NASH patients with advanced liver disease were hospitalized on average 4.2–4.4 times per year, compared with 2.9 times for those without advanced disease (p ≤ 0.05). Within the study cohort, the increase in annual health-care costs per NAFLD/NASH patient due to the progression of the disease towards advanced stages was observed: this increase varied from 1.9 times in case of hospitalization for diagnosis of CC, to 4.2 times for patients diagnosed with HCC; moreover, a 6.2-fold increase in costs was observed when comparing the patient with transplant versus the uncomplicated one.…”

“…Within the study cohort, the increase in annual health-care costs per NAFLD/NASH patient due to the progression of the disease towards advanced stages was observed: this increase varied from 1.9 times in case of hospitalization for diagnosis of CC, to 4.2 times for patients diagnosed with HCC; moreover, a 6.2-fold increase in costs was observed when comparing the patient with transplant versus the uncomplicated one. 9 …”