Asthma an $80 Billion Annual Burden on U.S. Economy Says CDC Study

• About 15.4 million people in the U.S. had treated asthma each year.
• The total annual cost of asthma in the U.S., including medical care, absenteeism and mortality, was $81.9 billion.
• The annual per-person medical cost of asthma was $3,266. Of that, $1,830 was for prescriptions, $640 for office visits, $529 for hospitalizations, $176 for hospital outpatient visits and $105 for emergency room care.
• Asthma-related mortality cost $29 billion per year, representing on average 3,168 deaths.
• Missed work and school days combined cost $3 billion per year, representing 8.7 million workdays and 5.2 million school days lost due to asthma.
• People with no health insurance had significantly lower per person total medical expenditure for asthma compared to insured people.

According to the authors, the study likely underestimated the total cost of asthma to the U.S. economy because their analysis did not include people whose asthma went untreated. The study also did not include nonmedical costs associated with asthma, including transportation expenses, time lost waiting for appointments and diminished productivity while functioning at work or school with asthma.

“The findings of the paper highlight the critical need to support and further strengthen asthma control strategies,” Dr. Nurmagambetov said. “CDC’s National Asthma Control Program was founded in 1999 to help reduce the burden of asthma in the United States. In order to reduce asthma-related ER visits, hospitalizations, absenteeism and mortality, we need to support guidelines-based care, expand self-management education and reduce environmental asthma triggers at homes.”