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Study Sees Large Growth in Total Cost of Digestive Diseases

February 11, 2009 – MedWire reported that findings published in a US report show that costs, doctor visits, prescription costs and hospitalizations associated with digestive diseases have risen significantly in recent years.

Lead author Dr. James Everhart, of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, and colleagues found that annual doctor visits due to digestive, liver and pancreatic diseases increased by more than 50% between 2000 and 2004, from 45 million to 100 million visits. The most costly diseases were digestive cancers, liver disease and gastro-esophageal reflux disease. Encouragingly, deaths related to digestive diseases gradually declined between 1979 and 2004, which is largely attributable to a decrease in deaths due to colorectal cancer, mainly from increased screening rates. [Read entire article]