Direct and indirect costs of COPD and its comorbidities: Results from the German COSYCONET study

- The economic burden of COPD on society is underestimated worldwide.
- This study provides real-world and up-to-date cost estimates of COPD in Germany.
- We compare costs between a large COPD cohort and population-based control subjects.
- Annual direct excess costs range between €2595-8924 per case for COPD grade 1-4.
- Excess costs were not explained by comorbidity which had additive effects.

BackgroundReliable up-to-date estimates regarding the economic impact of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are lacking. This study investigates COPD excess healthcare utilization, work absenteeism, and resulting costs within the German COPD cohort COSYCONET.MethodsData from 2139 COPD patients in GOLD grade 1-4 from COSYCONET were compared with 1537 lung-healthy control subjects from the population-based KORA platform. Multiple generalized linear models analyzed the association of COPD grades with healthcare utilization, work absence, and costs from a societal perspective while adjusting for sex, age, education, smoking status, body mass index (BMI), and several comorbidities.ResultsCOPD was significantly associated with excess healthcare utilization, work absence, and premature retirement. Adjusted annual excess cost of COPD in 2012 for GOLD grade 1-4 amounted to €2595 [1770-3678], €3475 [2966-4102], €5955 [5191-6843], and €8924 [7190-10,853] for direct costs, and €8621 [4104-13,857], €9871 [7692-12,777], €16,550 [13,743-20,457], and €27,658 [22,275-35,777] for indirect costs respectively. Comorbidities contributed to the primary effect of COPD on direct costs only. An additional history of cancer or stroke had the largest effect on direct costs, but the effects were smaller than those of COPD grade 3/4.ConclusionsCOPD is associated with substantially higher costs than previously reported.