Investigating the health economic burden of atopic disease in children from the EAT-On Study

Abstract

Background: there is growing interest in the health economic burden of childhood diseases. This study aimed to compare healthcare costs between atopic and non-atopic children in a general UK population.

Methods: participants were recruited from the EAT-On study which followed
children originally seen from 3 months old and then 7–12 years. A health economics questionnaire (HEQ) collected data from 2018 to 2022 on the utilization of UK healthcare services and were valued using published unit costs for UK£2021. Mean (standard deviation) resource use and cost were estimated for atopic and non-atopic children, in addition to mean difference (95% confidence interval) between atopic and non-atopic children. Two-part logistic regression analyses were performed to examine the likelihood of a child incurring healthcare costs including variables associated with the level of cost incurred.

Results: 625 children completed the HEQ; 33% reported zero healthcare costs over a 12-month period and 34.4% (215/625) had at least 1 atopic disease. Children with any atopic disease had higher total costs compared to those without atopic disease (mean difference £77 (95% CI −16.9, 170.6) per participant); if extrapolated to population level, this equated to £104.7 million more per year. Children with atopy were more likely to utilize hospital-based services compared to children without atopy (mean difference £104.3 (95% CI 36.2, 172.5) per participant). Being younger in the 7–12 y age bracket or coming from a lowerincome household (<£60,000/year) was associated with higher total healthcare costs.

Conclusion: children with atopy incur greater total healthcare costs compared to
children without atopy.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Tracey H. Sach: orcid.org/0000-0002-8098-9220

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