Waterborne diseases pose significant financial burden in the United States

ATLANTA — Three common waterborne diseases took as much as a $539 million toll on the U.S. health care system, data presented here at the 2010 International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases suggest.

“When people think about these diseases, they usually think of a simple case of diarrhea, which is a nuisance but quickly goes away,” said study researcher Michael Beach, PhD, of the CDC. “However, these infections can cause severe illnesses that often result in hospital stays of more than a week, which can quickly drive up health care costs.”

To explore the economic issue, CDC researchers examined information collected by two large insurance databases between 2004 and 2007. Analysis yielded estimated costs paid by insurer, out-of-pocket costs and the total amount paid for each of three diseases: giardiasis, cryptosporidiosis and Legionnaires’ disease.

Data indicated that the average length of a hospital stay for a patient with giardiasis was 4 days, for a patient with crytosporidiosis, 6 days, and for a patient with Legionnaires’ disease, 10 days.

Results also revealed that estimated total annual costs for all three diseases ranged from $154 million to $539 million, with combined Medicaid and Medicare payments totaling between $44 million and $147 million.

Further breakdown of the data by individual disease showed that hospitalization costs were between $16 million and $63 million for giardiasis; $37 million and $145 million for cryptosporidiosis; and $101 million and $321 million for Legionnaires’ disease.

Calculations also put the average cost per inpatient case at about $9,000 for giardiasis, the researchers said, whereas prices topped $21,000 for cryptosporidiosis and $34,000 for Legionnaires’ disease.

“These data highlight that water-related diseases pose not only a physical burden to the thousands of people sickened by them each year but also a substantial burden in health care costs, including direct government payments through Medicare and Medicaid,” Beach said.

The researchers noted that these approximations represent only a portion of all waterborne disease-related costs, and the financial burden placed on the government remains largely hidden. High costs may be mitigated by implementing moderate prevention programs, they concluded. – by Melissa Foster

For more information:

Collier SA. O7. Presented at: 2010 International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases; July 11-14, 2010; Atlanta.