Estimation of the costs of acute gastrointestinal illness in British Columbia, Canada

The costs associated with gastrointestinal infection (GI) in the province of British Columbia, Canada, were estimated using data from a population-based survey in three health service delivery areas, namely Vancouver, East Kootenay and Northern Interior. The number of cases of disease, consequent expenditure of resources and associated economic costs were modeled as probability distributions in a stochastic model. Using 2004 prices, the estimated mean annual cost per capita of gastrointestinal infection was CAN$128.61 (€207.96), with a mean annual cost per case of CAN$1,342.57 (€2,170.99). The mean estimate of the overall economic burden to British Columbia was CAN$514.2 million (€831.5 million) (95% CFI CAN$161.0 million to CAN$5.8 billion; €260.3 million to €9.38 billion). The major element of this cost was the loss of productivity associated with time away from paid employment by both the sick and their caregivers. Sensitivity analysis suggested that the uncertainty associated with the base model assumptions did not significantly affect the estimates. The results are comparable to those obtained in an earlier study using a similar analytical framework and data from the city of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.