Abstract
BackgroundGiven that dengue disease is growing and may progress to dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF), data on economic cost and disease burden are important. However, data for Mexico are limited.Methodology/Principal findingsBurden of dengue fever (DF) and DHF in Mexico was assessed using official databases for epidemiological information, disabilities weights from Shepard et al, the reported number of cases and deaths, and costs. Overall costs of dengue were summed from direct medical costs to the health system, cost of dengue to the patient (out-of-pocket expenses [medical and non-medical], indirect costs [loss of earnings, patient and/or caregiver]), and other government expenditures on prevention/surveillance. The first three components, calculated as costs per case by a micro-costing approach (PAATI; program, actions, activities, tasks, inputs), were scaled up to overall cost using epidemiology data from official databases. PAATI was used to calculate cost of vector control and prevention, education, and epidemiological surveillance, based on an expert consensus and normative construction of an ideal scenario.Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) for Mexico in 2016 were calculated to be 2283.46 (1.87 per 100,000 inhabitants). Overall economic impact of dengue in Mexico for 2012 was US$144 million, of which US$44 million corresponded to direct medical costs and US$5 million to the costs from the patient’s perspective. The estimated cost of prevention/surveillance was calculated with information provided by federal government to be US$95 million. The overall economic impact of DF and DHF showed an increase in 2013 to US$161 million and a decrease to US$133, US$131 and US$130 million in 2014, 2015 and 2016, respectively.Conclusions/SignificanceThe medical and economic impact of dengue were in agreement with other international studies, and highlight the need to include governmental expenditure for prevention/surveillance in overall cost analyses given the high economic impact of these, increasing the necessity to evaluate its effectiveness.
Highlights
Dengue fever (DF) is a vector-borne viral infection, the incidence of which has increased and expanded geographically over the past 50 years
Infection causes a broad spectrum of clinical signs and symptoms, from mild disease, such as dengue fever to a life threatening form known as dengue hemorrhagic fever
Faced with other health issues that require attention, it is important to quantify the suffering caused by dengue and its economic costs
Summary
Dengue fever (DF) is a vector-borne viral infection, the incidence of which has increased and expanded geographically over the past 50 years. The World Health Organization estimates reported a total of 50–100 million infections per year for the period 2010 to 2013 [1]. The potentially severe consequences of infection, allied with the high prevalence, especially during epidemic years, make for a high burden of disease and high economic cost [5]. Other health issues compete for limited overall resources, so it is important to have reliable figures to quantify as accurately as possible the burden and costs of dengue to enable rational budget allocation. Given that dengue disease is growing and may progress to dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF), data on economic cost and disease burden are important.
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