Clinical Management of Patients with Dengue Infection in Japan: Results from National Database of Health Insurance Claims

Patient and National Economic Burden of Dengue in Japan: Results from Japanese National Claims Database

Dengue fever is a predominantly imported infectious disease in Japan. However, domestic dengue infections were found in 2014. The economic burden of dengue is informative to formulate a policy toward its control. We estimated patient and societal economic burden of dengue infections in Japan from the restricted societal perspective. The direct medical cost was estimated from the national claims database between 2011 and 2015, and the indirect cost was estimated by multiplying the treatment days with the average wage. The average number of dengue patients per year was 274. The economic burden per dengue patient was $1,364.90 (direct medical cost: $1,213.80 and indirect cost: $151.10); the average economic burden for dengue in Japan per year was $433,217 (direct cost: $329,557, indirect cost: $41,298, and nonmedical cost: $62,362). We estimated the economic burden of dengue per patient and year in Japan from 2011 to 2015. The economic burden per year was not huge. It may not be necessary to formulate the National Prevention Plan for dengue. However, domestic dengue outbreak might occur again in the future. Preventive action should be taken with considering cost-effectiveness or budget impact. The findings in this study may be of use for these health economic analyses for planning prevention strategy for not only dengue but also other mosquito-borne diseases.