Socioeconomic burden of hand, foot and mouth disease in children in Shanghai, China

Abstract

In the near future, the inactivated enterovirus 71 (EV71) vaccine is expected to become available on the market in China. Since EV71 is a major cause of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD), the vaccine is expected to significantly reduce the number of cases, as well as the detrimental economic effect of the disease. However, for a national vaccination strategy to be developed, policy-makers need more information on the socioeconomic burden of EV71 HFMD infection. Based on the 2011 population data, we estimated the clinical and economic effect of EV71 HFMD infection in children aged 0-9 years in Shanghai, China. The annual cost related to HFMD is >US$7.66 million for a population of 1·42 million children aged 0-9 years with an average cost of US$208.2/case. The extrapolated cost for EV71 HFMD infection was US$3.53 million, comprising 46·1% of the overall cost associated with HFMD. Around 97% of all of the HFMD-related expenses were paid for by the families creating a considerable economic burden. Our findings could provide the necessary recommendations on the most effective national EV71 vaccine implementation, as well as a baseline data for assessing the cost-effectiveness of the vaccine in China.

Socioeconomic burden of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome in endemic areas of Anhui Province, eastern China

“…The lost earnings of non‐working days of patients, caregivers and visitors were evaluated as $184.3, $184.3 and $95.3, respectively. These lost earnings were significantly higher than that of HFMD cases in Shanghai and lower than that of H7N9 patients in Jiangsu Province (Huo et al, ; Wang et al, ). Our study also revealed that 99.1% of patients had health insurance, but only 25.8% of costs of SFTSV infection were covered by reimbursement.…”

“…A structured questionnaire, which was formulated according to the previous socioeconomic burden studies, was used to collect the information from patients with SFTS (Huo et al, ; Wang et al, ). The questionnaire contained four parts, concerning (1) demographic features such as age, gender, occupation and medical insurance; (2) course of illness and clinical experience, including day of onset, day of visiting a doctor and medical institution level; (3) direct costs towards SFTS cases, such as outpatient costs, inpatient costs, out‐of‐pocket costs for drugs, transportation, food, lodging expenses of cases, caregivers and visitors; and (4) indirect costs in relation to SFTS cases, including lost work days of patients, caregivers and visitors.…”

“…A structured questionnaire, which was formulated according to the previous socioeconomic burden studies, was used to collect the information from patients with SFTS (Huo et al, 2016;Wang et al, 2016).…”

“…Numerous studies have been conducted for the assessment of the health burden of different diseases in different regions of the world (Lim & Mokdad, ; Nicola, Susanna, Paola, Roberto, & Piero, ; Torgerson & Macpherson, ; Wang et al, ). However, no studies on the socioeconomic burden of SFTSV infection have been reported.…”

Epidemiology of hand foot mouth disease in Northern Thailand in 2016: A prospective cohort study

“…Majority of the cases were under 5 years old, and there was no different proportion between sexes [8]. A lot of public health resources had been spent for treatment, care and prevention program for HFMD in Thailand [9].…”