The impact of seven major noncommunicable diseases on direct medical costs, absenteeism, and presenteeism in Gulf Cooperation Council countries

Abstract

Materials and methods:We used data from pre-existing datasets and the literature. We identified seven major noncommunicable diseases for which data were available: coronary heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes mellitus, breast cancer, colon cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and asthma. We estimated the per unit cost (the annual cost of treating each illness for one person) of each disease, multiplied per unit cost by disease prevalence counts to generate disease-specific costs, and then summed across diseases. We calculated the cost of absenteeism and presenteeism by multiplying the gross domestic product per person in the labor force by the loss in productivity from each disease due to absenteeism and presenteeism, respectively, and the prevalence in the labor force of each disease. Results:We estimate that the direct medical costs of seven major noncommunicable diseases in Gulf Cooperation Council countries are $16.7 billion (2019 International $), equal to 0.6 percent of gross domestic product. We estimate that absenteeism and presenteeism due to these seven noncommunicable diseases cost 0.5 percent and 2.2 percent of gross domestic product, respectively.Limitations: Our study does not capture all noncommunicable diseases and does not capture all types of indirect costs. Our cost estimates are particularly sensitive to our assumptions regarding type 2 diabetes mellitus. Conclusion: The economic burden of noncommunicable diseases in Gulf CooperationCouncil countries is substantial, suggesting that successful preventive interventions have the potential to improve both population health and reduce costs. Further research is needed to capture a broader array of noncommunicable diseases and to develop more precise estimates.

Direct Healthcare Costs of Moderate and Severe Work-Related Injuries: Estimates from the National Trauma Center of Qatar

“…The study demonstrated that WRIs resulted in significant direct healthcare costs in Qatar; from 2011 to 2017, nearly 125 million USD was spent as direct healthcare costs to treat WRIs. This is almost double the combined annual direct medical costs for breast and colon cancer, as estimated for Qatar in 2019 [20]. Most of this expenditure was for the HLOS (58%), followed by the procedures performed during their treatment (39%).…”

“…Cost analysis studies in WRIs are needed for the justification and planning of budgets, establishment of preventive and interventional programs and prioritization of research funding by healthcare policymakers. The overall healthcare costs in this study were estimated based on the incidence of the WRIs, analyzing data from the national trauma center that provides care for all cases with moderate and severe WRIs in the country, as this is one of the recommended approaches in health economics [18][19][20]. Medical costs are further classified into direct (types of payments and expenses) and indirect (resource utilization) costs.…”

The case for investing in the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases in the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council: an economic evaluation

“…While similar studies were focused on low/middle-income countries (LMICs), 42 43 relatively few studies have estimated the health and economic burden of NCDs in GCC countries, and fewer still have drawn comparisons between GCC countries. Our study expands on the most comprehensive studies to date on the burden of NCDs in GCC countries, 44 by using national data for morbidity, mortality and cost of treatment data where possible, and other data from other GCC countries as proxies where necessary (Finkelstein et al use international estimates only). 9 45 Finkelstein et al 44 found diabetes to contribute the most to the NCD burden, while our study finds CVDs to be the largest contributor.…”

“…Our study expands on the most comprehensive studies to date on the burden of NCDs in GCC countries, 44 by using national data for morbidity, mortality and cost of treatment data where possible, and other data from other GCC countries as proxies where necessary (Finkelstein et al use international estimates only). 9 45 Finkelstein et al 44 found diabetes to contribute the most to the NCD burden, while our study finds CVDs to be the largest contributor. This is likely due to the aforementioned differences in data sources, in addition to our study’s inclusion of premature death into the burden calculation.…”

The economic burden of overweight and obesity in Saudi Arabia

“…We obtained estimates of the total direct cost, absenteeism cost, and presenteeism cost of the six diseases in Saudi Arabia for the year 2019 from a previous published study [ 16 ]. We obtained sex-specific prevalence rates for the year 2019 from the Global Burden of Disease database [ 17 ].…”