Costi diretti e indiretti assorbiti dalle patologie HCV-indotte in Italia: stima basata su una metodologia probabilistica di Cost of Illness (original) (raw)

Background The hepatitis C virus (HCV) induces several pathological conditions worldwide with a substantial medical and economic burden. The objective of this study was to estimate the average annual cost incurred by the National Health Service (NHS) as well as society due to HCV in Italy. Methods A probabilistic incidence-based cost of illness model was developed to estimate an aggregate measure of the economic burden associated with HCV-induced diseases either in terms of direct or indirect costs. Indirect costs were calculated on the basis of productivity lost according to the human capital approach. A systematic literature review was carried out to identify epidemiological and economic data which were subsequently used to inform the model. Furthermore, a one-way probabilistic sensitivity analysis with 5,000 Monte Carlo simulations was performed, in order to test the robustness of results and define the proper 95% CI.