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Asthma is a chronic respiratory disease that is widespread throughout the US population and disproportionately affects children. This literature review aimed to identify recent information regarding the economic burden of pediatric asthma in the US. MEDLINE, EMBASE, Econlit, and PsycINFO databases and gray literature sources were searched from January 2012 to January 2018 to capture relevant publications. Publications reporting on healthcare resource utilization and/or healthcare costs of pediatric asthma were included (n = 8). Total direct costs of pediatric asthma were US5. 92 billion in 2013. Average annual costs per child ranged from US3076 to US13612. Across studies, pharmacy (US1027-2120), inpatient (US337-2016) and outpatient (US1049-8039) costs were the primary contributors to healthcare costs. Inpatient and emergency department (ED) visits exerted a high economic burden. For instance, the national annual cost of asthma-related hospitalizations was estimated at US1. 59 billion in 2009, while estimates of costs-per-hospitalization (2010) and charges-per-discharge (2009) were US3600 and US8406, respectively. The total cost of ED visits to Medicaid was estimated at US272 million in 2010. In a mixed-insurance population, ED cost estimates ranged from US152 to US172 annually per patient. Invariably, costs for children with asthma were significantly greater than for children without. Pediatric asthma imposes a significant economic burden to the US healthcare system. Children with asthma have significantly higher healthcare resource utilization and costs than children without asthma.
Perry et al. (Sat,) studied this question.