Estimates of the cost of illness of myocardial infarction, asthma and stroke

ABSTRACTThis study provides updated estimates of the cost-of-illness for three common and costly health outcomes: myocardial infarction, asthma and stroke. We use a regression approach based on a large data set which provides a representative sample of individual health-related expenditures in the United States. Our core estimates are that the estimated cost of a first myocardial infarction is $238,000, the cost of new onset asthma is $170,000, and the cost of a first stroke is $175,000. We also demonstrate the importance of including wage income and caregiving costs and document differences in short- and long-term costs for some health outcomes. Looking forward, these cost-of-illness estimates can be used to inform environmental benefit-cost analysis such as those performed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).KEYWORDS: Cost benefit analysiscost of illnessmyocardial infarctionasthmastrokeJEL CODES: I18Q51 AcknowledgementThe views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 All dollar figures are in 2020 dollars. EPA estimates are converted from 2015 dollars with the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U).2 Stroke and myocardial infarction are rare among minors. In our dataset, 0.1% of respondents who report having been diagnosed with a stroke were younger than 20, while 0.03% of respondents who report having been diagnosed with a myocardial infarction were younger than 20.Young onset asthma is relatively common – 3.2% of respondents who report having been diagnosed with asthma were younger than 20. For the full sample, 2.8% of respondents were younger than 20 years old. This dataset includes costs incurred as adults regardless of whether onset was before or after age 18, but omits costs incurred as minors.3 The expected remaining years of life by age of onset is detailed in Appendix 1.