Costs of Medically Attended Acute Gastrointestinal Infections: The Polish Prospective Healthcare Utilization Survey.

Objectives: The burden of acute gastrointestinal infections (AGIs) on the society has not been well studied in Central European countries, which prevents the implementation of effective, targeted public health interventions.

Methods: We investigated patients of 11 randomly selected general practices and 8 hospital units. Each patient meeting the international AGI case definition criteria was interviewed on costs incurred related to the use of health care resources. Follow-up interview with consenting patients was conducted 2 to 4 weeks after the general practitioner (GP) visit or discharge from hospital, collecting information on self-medication costs and indirect costs. Costs were recalculated to US dollars by using the purchasing power parity exchange rate for Poland.

Results: Weighting the inpatient costs by age-specific probability of hospital referral by GPs, the societal cost of a medically attended AGI case was estimated to be US $168. The main cost drivers of direct medical costs were cost of hospital bed days (US $28), cost of outpatient pharmacotherapy (US $20), and cost of GP consultation (US $10). Patients covered only the cost of outpatient pharmacotherapy. Considering the AGI population GP consultation rate, the age-adjusted societal cost of medically attended AGI episodes was estimated at US $2222 million, of which 53% was attributable to indirect costs.

Conclusions: Even though AGIs generate a low cost for individuals, they place a high burden on the society, attributed mostly to indirect costs. Higher resources could be allocated to the prevention and control of AGIs.