The Economic Burden of Varicella Among Children in France: A Societal Perspective

Speaker(s)

Samant S1, Haas H2, dos Santos J3, Mink D4, Pitman R5, Pawaskar M1
1Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA, 2Centre Hospitalier Princesse Grace, Monaco, Monaco, Monaco, 3ICON Clinical Research, Dublin 18, D, Ireland, 4ICON Clinical Research, Novato, CA, USA, 5ICON Clinical Research, Reading, Reading, UK

Presentation Documents

OBJECTIVES: To estimate the economic burden of pediatric varicella in France from the societal perspective.

METHODS: We conducted a web-based cross-sectional survey study (April-July 2022) of French parents/caregivers of children (≤17 years) who had experienced varicella in the past six weeks. Data on healthcare resource utilization (HCRU), medication use, additional childcare support and work/school days lost were collected. Mean direct costs were estimated by multiplying reported HCRU with published unit costs, while the indirect costs were calculated using self-reported workdays lost and published mean daily wages. The mean cost per varicella case (direct and indirect costs) was used to estimate the national societal economic burden of pediatric varicella.

RESULTS: Parents/caregivers of 185 children (mean age, 4.4 years) with varicella were surveyed: 95.1% reported ≥1 outpatient visit, 10.3% had ≥1 ER visit and 2.2% were hospitalized. The mean number of outpatient visits was 1.5. The mean length of the hospital stay was 5 days among those hospitalized (n=4). While 91.9% of children used analgesics, 55.7% used antihistamines, 14.6% used antibiotics, and 10.3% used antivirals. More than 61% of parents took ≥1 day off work to care for the sick child, with a mean of 5.5 workdays missed by 113 families. A mean of 5.1 schooldays were missed by 170 children attending preschool/school. 39.5% of 185 children had ≥1 day when childcare was not provided. Overall, the mean (standard deviation) total cost of varicella per child was €967.8 (€1319.4); direct and indirect costs accounted for €154.7 (€357.7) and €813 (€1149.1) per child, respectively. The annual national economic burden of varicella among children in France was estimated to be €551,270,902 with indirect costs accounting for 84%.

CONCLUSIONS: There is a substantial economic burden of pediatric varicella in France (€551 million annually), primarily due to caregiver burden and productivity loss.

Code

EE391

Topic

Economic Evaluation

Disease

Pediatrics