TABLE 2.
Costs of Gonorrhea (GC)
| Male | Female | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patients diagnosed with GC diagnosis code | ||||||
| No. patients with a GC diagnosis | 8766 | 10,296 | 19,062 | |||
| Patients diagnosed with ONLY GC diagnosis code and no other code | 4683 | 53.4% | 4976 | 48.3% | 9659 | 50.7% |
| No. outpatient visits with a GC diagnosis | 5274 | 5738 | 11,012 | |||
| Avg. no. GC visits per patient | 1.13 | 1.15 | 1.14 | |||
| No. patients with prescription drug coverage | 4410 | 50.3% | 4559 | 44.3% | 8969 | 47.1% |
| No. patients with coverage having drug claims | 3654 | 41.7% | 3909 | 38.0% | 7563 | 39.7% |
| No. patients with appropriate GC treatment linked to GC diagnosis | 2493 | 28.5% | 2681 | 26.0% | 5174 | 27.1% |
| No. patients with treatment within 1 mo of DX | 1985 | 22.6% | 2083 | 20.2% | 4068 | 21.3% |
| No. first cases of GC without other diagnoses | 1487 | 17.0% | 1561 | 15.2% | 3048 | 16.0% |
| Direct Medical treatment costs* | ||||||
| No. cases | 1487 | 1561 | 3048 | |||
| Outpatient costs (95% CI) | $92.35 | ($85.49–$99.22) | $63.12 | ($58.08–$68.15) | $77.38 | ($73.13–$81.64) |
| Drug cost (95% CI) | $7.75 | ($6.83–$8.67) | $7.39 | ($6.89–$7.90) | $7.57 | ($7.05–$8.09) |
| Total cost (95% CI) | $100.10 | ($93.10–$107.10) | $70.51 | ($65.41–$75.62) | $84.95 | ($80.62–89.28) |
| Productivity loss per GC case† | ||||||
| No. claims in HPM database linked to patients with a GC diagnosis including non STI-visits | 835 | 9.5% | 595 | 5.8% | 1430 | 7.5% |
| No. claims specific to GC visit | 5 | 0.06% | 2 | 0.02% | 7 | 0.04% |
| Mean hours absent per GC case (95% CI) | 11.2 | (2.3–20.1) | 3.5 | (<1–9.9) | 9.0 | (2.6–15.4) |
| Mean productivity loss per GC case (95% CI)‡ | $305.76 | ($63.21-$548.31) | $95.55 | (<$1-$268.99) | $245.70 | ($70.17-$421.23) |
The average productivity cost per chlamydia and gonorrhea case (n = 38) was 7.82 (95% CI, 6.28–9.36) hours absent and $213.53 (95% CI, 171.51–255.55) in lost wages.
All costs are adjusted to 2018 dollars using the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers.
The productivity loss per case was calculated assuming an average US hourly compensation rate of $27.30/h in 2018 US dollars, the 95% CI for the productivity loss reflects the 95% CI for the mean number of hours absent multiplied by $27.30. Applying a different hourly compensation rate would affect the estimated productivity loss per case in a proportional manner; for example, if the hourly rate were increased by 10%, the productivity cost estimates would be increased by 10% as well.
These are the average costs per case among those who were linked to the HPM Database and missed work for their outpatient visit. The average productivity loss per case across all cases (including those who did not miss work for treatment) is expected to be lower.
CI indicates confidence interval; DX, diagnosis.