Allergic Diseases Directly Cost Between 1,800 And 6,600 Euros Per Patient Per Year

The HEAD registry, with nearly 800 patients, serves to evaluate the economic and social impact of allergies at a European level.

Allergic diseases cost between 1,823€ and 6,656€ per patient per year if we only consider the direct costs derived from healthcare, according to a study of the data collected through the European HEAD registry promoted by the EAACI, which is holding its congress at the Feria de Valencia until Monday, June 3.

“Allergic diseases and asthma are among the most common chronic diseases worldwide and account for a considerable global health burden. However, their real impact is difficult to estimate due to the lack of representativeness and incompleteness of the available data,” explain Dr. Ioana Agache, who chairs EAACI's Research and Outreach Committee (ROC). The HEAD registry was launched to describe patterns of care for allergic diseases and asthma and to assess their impact on costs, both financial and personal. On average, adult patients lost between 2.68 and 5.33 days of work, children between 14.88 and 24.09 days of school and their families between 3.99 and 23.35 days.

“The significant burden of allergic diseases, according to this research, calls for immediate action to improve their management,” says Dr. Agache. “Treatments advised by EAACI guidelines can improve outcomes, but global clean air measures are needed to make a significant impact,” she points out.

The Congress also discusses how to facilitate the translation of trial and research results into routine clinical practice. “There are some experimental approaches with greater potential to be translated to the clinic, such as flow cytometry for basophil activation tests or ELISA to measure periostin levels,” explains María Escribese Alonso, Vice-Dean of Research at the Faculty of Medicine of the CEU San Pablo University and director of the Institute of Applied Molecular Medicine-Nemesio Diez. She also stresses that Spain is a great country for translational research in allergy “promoting networks where clinicians and researchers have the opportunity to collaborate with a common goal.”

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