Food allergy costs US around half a billion dollars each year

The economic burden of food allergy in the United States has been estimated, taking into consideration both direct medical costs and indirect costs of allergic reactions and anaphylaxis caused by food. Using data from federally-administered databases, it was found approximately half a billion dollars was spent in 2007 as a result of food-induced allergies.

This figure combines mean direct medical costs of $307 million, calculated as the average cost of illness per patient multiplied by estimated prevalence, plus mean indirect costs of $203 million. Indirect costs were calculated in terms of lost earnings of patients or caregivers caused by food allergy-related absenteeism and mortality.

Visits to a doctor's office accounted for just over half of the direct medical costs, while visits to an emergency department accounted for 20%, inpatient hospitalizations 12%, and epinephrine devices close to 9% of estimated direct medical costs. The categories of outpatient visits and ambulance trips each accounted for around 3% of these costs.

Reference: Patel et al. 2011. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. DOI: 10.1016/j.jaci.2011.03.013