BackgroundOne in 3 US adults has high blood pressure, or hypertension. As prior projections suggest hypertension is the costliest of all cardiovascular diseases, it is important to define the current state of healthcare expenditures related to hypertension.Methods and ResultsWe used a nationally representative database, the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, to calculate the estimated annual healthcare expenditure for patients with hypertension and to measure trends in expenditure longitudinally over a 12‐year period. A 2‐part model was used to estimate adjusted incremental expenditures for individuals with hypertension versus those without hypertension. Sex, race/ethnicity, education, insurance status, census region, income, marital status, Charlson Comorbidity Index, and year category were included as covariates. The 2003–2014 pooled data include a total sample of 224 920 adults, of whom 36.9% had hypertension. Unadjusted mean annual medical expenditure attributable to patients with hypertension was $9089. Relative to individuals without hypertension, individuals with hypertension had $1920 higher annual adjusted incremental expenditure, 2.5 times the inpatient cost, almost double the outpatient cost, and nearly triple the prescription medication expenditure. Based on the prevalence of hypertension in the United States, the estimated adjusted annual incremental cost is $131 billion per year higher for the hypertensive adult population compared with the nonhypertensive population.ConclusionsIndividuals with hypertension are estimated to face nearly $2000 higher annual healthcare expenditure compared with their nonhypertensive peers. This trend has been relatively stable over 12 years. Healthcare costs associated with hypertension account for about $131 billion. This warrants intense effort toward hypertension prevention and management.

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OBJECTIVE: To investigate differences in healthcare cost trends over 8 years in adults with diabetes and one of four categories of comorbid depression: no depression, unrecognized depression, asymptomatic depression, or symptomatic depression. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Data from the 2004-2011 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) was used to create nationally representative estimates. The dependent variable was total healthcare expenditures for the calendar year, including office-based, hospital outpatient, emergency room, inpatient hospital, prescription, dental, and home health care expenditures. The 2004-2011 direct medical costs were adjusted to a common 2014 dollar value. The primary independent variable was four mutually exclusive depression categories created from ICD-9-CM codes and the PHQ-2 depression screening tool. Healthcare expenditures were estimated using a two-part model and were adjusted for age, sex, race, marital status, education, health insurance, metropolitan statistical area status, region, income level, and comorbidities. RESULTS: Based on a national sample of adults with diabetes (unweighted sample of 15,548, weighted sample of 17,465,579), 10.2 % had unrecognized depression, 13.6 % had asymptomatic depression, and 8.9 % had symptomatic depression. In the pooled sample, after adjusting for covariates, the incremental cost of unrecognized depression was $2872 (95 % CI 1660-4084), asymptomatic depression increased by $3347 (95 % CI 2568-4386), and symptomatic depression increased by $5170 (CI 95 % 3610-6731) compared to patients with no depression. CONCLUSIONS: Adjusted analyses showed that expenditures were $2000-3000 higher for unrecognized and asymptomatic depression than no depression, and $5000 higher for symptomatic depression. Higher medical expenditures persisted over time, with only symptomatic depression showing a sustained decrease over time.

This study analyzes cattle farmers' perceptions of risk and risk management strategies in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia. We use survey data from a sample of 356 farmers based on multistage random sampling. Factor analysis is employed to classify scores of risk and management strategies, and multiple regression is then used to investigate the relationship of scores and farmers' characteristics. The results demonstrate that shortage of family labor, high price of fodder and limited farm income were perceived as the most important risks. Use of veterinary services, parasite control and loan utilization were perceived as the most important strategies to manage risks. Livestock disease and labor shortage were perceived as less of a risk by farmers who adopted the practice of zero grazing compared to other farmers, pointing to the potential of this practice for risk reduction. We find strong evidence that farmers engage in multiple risk management practices in order to reduce losses due to cattle morbidity and mortality. The results suggest that government strategies that aim at reducing farmers' risk need to be tailored to specific farm and farmer characteristics. Findings from this study have potentially important policy implications for risk management strategies in developing countries.