Title |
Cost of low back pain in Switzerland in 2005
|
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Published in |
HEPAC Health Economics in Prevention and Care, June 2010
|
DOI | 10.1007/s10198-010-0258-y |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Simon Wieser, Bruno Horisberger, Sara Schmidhauser, Claudia Eisenring, Urs Brügger, Andreas Ruckstuhl, Jürg Dietrich, Anne F. Mannion, Achim Elfering, Özgür Tamcan, Urs Müller |
Abstract |
Low back pain (LBP) is the most prevalent health problem in Switzerland and a leading cause of reduced work performance and disability. This study estimated the total cost of LBP in Switzerland in 2005 from a societal perspective using a bottom-up prevalence-based cost-of-illness approach. The study considers more cost categories than are typically investigated and includes the costs associated with a multitude of LBP sufferers who are not under medical care. The findings are based on a questionnaire completed by a sample of 2,507 German-speaking respondents, of whom 1,253 suffered from LBP in the last 4 weeks; 346 of them were receiving medical treatment for their LBP. Direct costs of LBP were estimated at <euro>2.6 billion and direct medical costs at 6.1% of the total healthcare expenditure in Switzerland. Productivity losses were estimated at <euro>4.1 billion with the human capital approach and <euro>2.2 billion with the friction cost approach. Presenteeism was the single most prominent cost category. The total economic burden of LBP to Swiss society was between 1.6 and 2.3% of GDP. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United States | 2 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Members of the public | 2 | 100% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Switzerland | 3 | 1% |
United States | 1 | <1% |
Austria | 1 | <1% |
Brazil | 1 | <1% |
Unknown | 224 | 97% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Master | 42 | 18% |
Student > Bachelor | 40 | 17% |
Student > Ph. D. Student | 30 | 13% |
Researcher | 25 | 11% |
Student > Postgraduate | 13 | 6% |
Other | 34 | 15% |
Unknown | 46 | 20% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Medicine and Dentistry | 57 | 25% |
Nursing and Health Professions | 33 | 14% |
Engineering | 14 | 6% |
Sports and Recreations | 11 | 5% |
Psychology | 10 | 4% |
Other | 45 | 20% |
Unknown | 60 | 26% |