Healthcare expenditures for sinusitis in 1996: Contributions of asthma, rhinitis, and other airway disorders

Background: There have been no recent assessments of the economic burden of sinusitis in the peer-reviewed literature. Objective: We sought to estimat e the 1996 total direct health care expenditures for the treatment of sinus itis. Methods: This study determined (I) direct expenditures of medical and surgi cal encounters in which sinusitis was the primary diagnosis and (2) attribu table expenditures when related airway diseases were the primary diagnosis and sinusitis was a comorbid condition. An expert panel used the Delphi con sensus-building technique to determine the proportions for the latter Results: Overall health care expenditures attributable to sinusitis in 1996 wore estimated at $5.8 billion, of which $1.8 billion (30.6%) was for chil dren 12 gears or younger. A primary diagnosis of acute or chronic sinusitis accounted for 58.7% of all expenditures ($3.5 billion). About 12% each of the costs for asthma and chronic otitis media and eustachian tube disorders were attributed to diagnosis and treatment of comorbid sinusitis. Nearly 9 0% of all expenditures ($5.1 billion) were associated with ambulatory or em ergency department services, Conclusion: The economic burden of sinusitis in the United States is signif icant However the limitations of this type of evaluation suggest the $5.8 b illion amount may be an underestimate of the true direct casts.