THE COST OF CHILDHOOD ASTHMA TO AUSTRALIAN FAMILIES

There have been no estimates of the actual cost of asthma care to Aust ralian families. Previous estimates have been of the total cost to the community and have relied upon data collected by government departmen ts and agencies. It was the aim of this investigation to estimate the cost of childhood asthma from the parents perspective in Australian fa milies. A total of 238 asthmatic children aged 8-12 years were identif ied through prevalence studies of asthma in Sydney and Belmont, N.S.W. Children were selected if they had wheezed in the previous 12 months, had used asthma medicines or had airway hyperresponsiveness when test ed, The study sample had a wide range of asthma severity. Data were co llected retrospectively and prospectively. Parents completed a questio nnaire which asked about health insurance and special asthma equipment costs in the previous 12 months. Every 2 weeks for a total of 3 month s between February and June parents completed further questionnaires w hich assessed costs incurred because of their child's asthma, together with time spent obtaining treatment. Items included doctor consultati ons and tests, alternative practitioner consultations and tests, medic ations and alternative therapies purchased, hospital and ambulance use , and the cost of childcare as a consequence of asthma. We collected t wo or more months of prospective data from a total of 193 children. Th e mean annual cost of asthma to the family was A$212.48 per asthmatic child and 13.4 hr were spent obtaining treatment. For the group of chi ldren who had not visited a doctor in the previous year, the mean annu al cost was A$85.60 and 13.1 hr were spent obtaining treatment. For th e group of children who had been admitted to hospital in the previous year, the mean annual cost was A$884.34 and 153.0 hr were spent obtain ing treatment. We conclude that the cost of asthma and the time spent obtaining treatment increases with increasing severity of the illness. In cases in which the child's asthma is severe enough to require hosp italisation in the previous 12 months, the cost to the family may be c onsiderable. Pediatr Pulmonol, 1995; 19:330-335, (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.