Influenza World Health Care Professionals

Seasonal influenza imposes a substantial demand on healthcare resources and the economy each year as a result of increased primary care consultations, referrals, hospitalisations, clinical complications, drug treatment and work absenteeism. [1]

During an influenza epidemic a large amount of healthcare resources are consumed, such as doctors’ and other health professionals’ time, prescribed medicines, laboratory investigations and hospital stays. Nearly half of all patients with influenza visit a doctor or hospital physician, [2, 3] and more than half of these consultations result in a prescription for cold and cough remedies, antibiotics, or both. [4, 5]

In addition to direct medical costs, there are indirect costs associated with influenza, most of which are related to the amount of work time lost. It has been estimated that 1 in every 10 work days missed is due to influenza. [4] On average, the amount of time that people are absent from work caused by an influenza-related illness is 3 days. [3] On returning to work after influenza illness, many people find that their performance at work is reduced. [6]

Taking direct, indirect and other costs into consideration, the economic burden of influenza is considerable. The estimated economic burden of influenza for several countries is shown below. 

Region/ country	Age group	Direct costs	Indirect costs	Total costs
Europe [7]	All ages	€25 per primary care visit	–	–
		€3,160 per patient hospitalised	–	–
France* [8]	All ages	€225 million	€1.7 billion	€2 billion
Germany *[8]	All ages	€73 million	€788 million	€861 million
Italy [9]	2–5 years	€235 per patient	€348 per patient	€582 per patient
United States* [8]	All ages	€750 million –€2.3 billion	€8–11 billion	€8–14 billion
United States [10]	50–64 years	€5,457 per patient hospitalised	–	–
	≥65 years	€6,209 per patient hospitalised	–	–
	All ages	€149 per outpatient	–	–

*Costs provided in US dollars have been converted to Euros at a rate of US$1 = €0.75.

 

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