GI, liver, and pancreatic diseases cost the U.S. health care system about $120B per year and account for approximately 250,000 annual deaths, according to a “conservative” estimate from a recent analysis.
These figures emphasize the need for more research funding in the area, along with additional clinical and public health initiatives, reported lead author Anne F. Peery, MD, of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, and colleagues.
“Reports detailing the burden of GI diseases are necessary for clinical research, decision making, and priority setting,” the investigators wrote in Gastroenterology. “Our aim was to describe health care use, expenditures, and research funding across GI, liver, and pancreatic diseases in the United States.”
Dr. Peery and colleagues analyzed data from 14 sources, including the National Institutes of Health; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey; and others. GI-specific outcomes included mortality, readmissions, hospitalizations, office-based visits, and emergency department visits. The investigators also characterized trends in cancers, organ transplants, and GI endoscopy, as well as GI-specific health care costs and NIH research funding. Annual findings were presented for various periods.
Total GI health care spending was $119.6 billion in 2018, down from $135.9 billion in 2015. The top five most costly conditions were biliary tract diseases ($16.9 billion), esophageal disorders ($12.1 billion), abdominal pain ($9.5 billion), abdominal hernias ($9.0 billion), and diverticular disease ($9.0 billion). The investigators noted that medication costs were particularly high for two categories: inflammatory bowel diseases and esophageal disorders, which had prescription drug costs relative to total expenditures of 71% and 53%, respectively.
“This conservative estimate [of $119.6 billion] did not include most GI cancers and likely underestimated the costs associated with some GI conditions,” the investigators noted. “For example, the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey estimate associated with GI bleeding was $300 million. In comparison, the aggregate cost of GI bleeding was more realistically $3.7 billion, as estimated using inpatient data from the National Inpatient Sample.”
In 2016, the most common GI-related diagnosis in the U.S. was abdominal pain (15.7 million annual visits), followed by nausea and vomiting (5.0 million visits), gastroesophageal reflux disorder and reflux esophagitis (4.7 million visits), constipation (3.1 million visits), and abdominal wall/inguinal hernia (2.8 million visits).
The top three most common GI-related hospital admissions in 2018 were GI bleeding (1.3 million admissions), followed by cholelithiasis and cholecystitis (741,060 admissions), then pancreatitis (685,880 admissions). GI bleeding was also the leading cause of 30-day readmission in 2018 (84,533 readmissions).
“We found substantial numbers of GI conditions and symptoms listed in secondary positions on the discharge record,” the investigators wrote. “For example, liver disease accounted for 280,645 discharges with a primary diagnosis; however, there were 13-fold as many discharges (3.6 million in 2018) with liver disease as a secondary diagnosis. Including all diagnoses captures a burden of GI disease not previously reported.”
In 2018 and 2019, GI diseases and cancers caused 255,407 annual deaths. The most common noncancer deaths were caused by alcohol-associated liver disease (24,110 deaths), hepatic fibrosis/cirrhosis (20,184 deaths), and GI bleeding (9,548 deaths). Among GI-cancer related deaths, colorectal cancer (CRC) caused the most mortalities (52,163 deaths), followed by pancreatic cancer (44,914 deaths), and hepatic/biliary cancer (44,914 deaths). The investigators noted that CRC was disproportionately common among non-Hispanic Black individuals, whereas gastric cancer was relatively high among Hispanic individuals.
“GI cancers account for a large number of diagnoses and deaths annually, with persistent disparities in incidence and mortality rates by race/ethnicity,” the investigators wrote. “Racial, ethnic, and regional disparities in access to most GI endoscopy procedures exist, which suggests an unmet need for GI procedures across the United States.”
A total of 22.2 million endoscopies were performed in 2019, most commonly colonoscopy (13.8 million procedures), followed by upper endoscopy (7.5 million procedures), and flexible sigmoidoscopy (379,883 procedures).
In 2020, the NIH spent $3.1 billion, or approximately 7.5% of its budget, on GI disease research. Digestive diseases captured the bulk of this spending, with $2.3 billion. In the same year, the NIH spent 10.5% of its cancer research budget on GI cancers, with the greatest proportion ($325 million) awarded to CRC research.
“Carefully examining the data in this report can help generate areas for future investigation, prioritize research funding, identify areas of unmet need or disparities, and provide an important overview of the impact of digestive and liver conditions,” the investigators concluded. “We hope that others will use this report as motivation to take a deeper dive into individual diseases. There is much to learn from carefully studying existing data sources.”
The study was supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health. The investigators disclosed no conflicts of interest.