Societal costs and morbidity of pertussis in adolescents and adults

Abstract

Background. Since the 1980s, the reported incidence of pertussis among adolescents and adults has been steadily increasing. To understand whether the benefits of an acellular pertussis vaccine formulated for adolescents and adults might offset its costs, policy makers will need information about morbidity and societal (medical and nonmedical) costs of pertussis. Methods. Adolescents (age, 10-17 years) and adults (age, ≥ 18 years) with confirmed pertussis illness were identified by the Massachusetts enhanced pertussis surveillance system. We evaluated medical costs in a cohort of patients who had confirmed pertussis during the period of January 1998 through December 2000; nonmedical costs, by means of prospective interviews, in a cohort of patients who had confirmed pertussis during the period of December 2001 through January 2003; and morbidity in both cohorts. Our main outcome measures were mean costs per case, in 2002 US$. Results. In the analysis of medical costs, 1679 adolescents and 936 adults were found to have mean costs of $242 and $326, respectively (P