European Union-28: An annualised cost-of-illness model for venous thromboembolism

Annual costs for venous thromboembolism (VTE) have been defined within the United States (US) demonstrating a large opportunity for cost savings. Costs for the European Union-28 (EU-28) have never been defined. A literature search was conducted to evaluate EU-28 cost sources. Median costs were defined for each cost input and costs were inflated to 2014 Euros ((sic)) in the study country and adjusted for Purchasing Power Parity between EU countries. Adjusted costs were used to populate previously published cost-models based on adult incidence-based events. In the base model, annual expenditures for total, hospital-associated, preventable, and indirect costs were (sic)1.5-2.2 billion, (sic)1.0-1.5 billion, (sic)0.5-1.1 billion and (sic)0.2-0.3 billion, respectively (indirect costs: 12% of expenditures). In the long-term attack rate model, total, hospital-associated, preventable, and indirect costs were (sic)1.8-3.3 billion, (sic)1.2-2.4 billion, (sic)0.6-1.8 billion and (sic)0.2-0.7 billion (indirect costs: 13 % of expenditures). In the multiway sensitivity analysis, annual expenditures for total, hospital associated, preventable, and indirect costs were (sic)3.0-8.5 billion, (sic)2.2-6.2 billion, (sic)1.1-4.6 billion and (sic)0.5-1.4 billion (indirect costs: 22 % of expenditures). When the value of a premature life-lost increased slightly, aggregate costs rose considerably since these, costs are higher than the direct medical costs. When evaluating the models aggregately for costs, the results suggests total, hospital-associated, preventable, and indirect costs ranging from (sic)1.5-13.2 billion, (sic)1.0-9.7 billion, (sic)0.5-7.3 billion and (sic)0.2-6.1 billion, respectively. Our study demonstrates that VIE costs have a large financial impact upon the EU-28's healthcare systems and that significant savings could be realised if better preventive measures are applied.