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The economic burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Europe: results from a systematic review of the literature

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Abstract

Objectives

To find the economic burden of COPD and to identify the key cost drivers in the management of COPD patients across different European countries.

Background

COPD is a major cause of mortality and morbidity and is associated with considerable economic burden on the individual and society. It limits the daily activities and working ability of the patients.

Methodology

We conducted a systematic search of PUBMED, SCIENCE DIRECT, Cochrane CENTRAL, SCOPUS, Google Scholar and SAGE Premier Databases to find scientific research articles evaluating the cost of COPD management from patient and societal perspective.

Results

Estimated per patient per year direct cost in Norway, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Greece, Belgium, and Serbia was €10,701, €9580, €7847, €7448, €7045, €2896, €1963, and €2047, respectively. Annual per patient cost of work productivity loss was highest in Germany as €5735 and lowest in Greece as €998. It was estimated as €4824, €2033 and €1298 in Bulgaria, Denmark and Sweden, respectively. Several factors found associated with increasing cost of COPD management that include but not limited to late diagnosis, severity of disease, frequency of exacerbation, hospital readmissions, non-adherence to the therapy and exposure to COPD risk factors.

Conclusion

Minimizing the COPD exacerbations and controlling the worsening of symptoms may potentially reduce the cost of COPD management at any stage.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are very grateful to the teaching faculty of school of pharmaceutical science, University Sains Malaysia, who gave their valuable feedback on the systematic review and library staff for searching and requesting the full-text articles from the authors.

Funding

No funding was received from any source for the project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia

    Anees ur Rehman, Mohamed Azmi Ahmad Hassali & Sabariah Noor Harun

  2. Faculty of Pharmacy, Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan, Multan, Pakistan

    Anees ur Rehman

  3. School of Management Sciences, University Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia

    Sohail Ayaz Muhammad

  4. Department of Pharmacy, Quaid e Azam University Islamabad, Islamabad, Pakistan

    Sameen Abbas

  5. Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan

    Shahid Shah

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  1. Anees ur Rehman
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Correspondence to Anees ur Rehman.

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Rehman, A.u., Hassali, M.A.A., Muhammad, S.A. et al. The economic burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Europe: results from a systematic review of the literature. Eur J Health Econ 21, 181–194 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10198-019-01119-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10198-019-01119-1

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