The societal cost of asthma among young adults in Sweden – a register-based study

<bold>Introduction:</bold> Asthma affects a significant proportion of the Swedish population, and the financial impact of asthma is not restricted to direct healthcare expenses but includes indirect costs such as sick leave payments. This study aimed to describe the financial burden of asthma among young adults in Sweden. <bold>Methods:</bold> In conjunction with Swedish burden of disease, cost of medical care and sick leave utilization data from 2022, healthcare consumption estimates from a nationwide burden of asthma study was used to estimate the excess cost of asthma in Sweden compared to healthy controls. <bold>Results:</bold> The total annual cost for young adults with asthma was € 3,572 per patient. Expenses were divided into primary care (€ 929), secondary care (€ 1,137), procurement of medicine (€ 605), and indirect costs (sick leave payments) (€ 902). Asthma-related costs accounted for 17% of the total direct costs. The total excess cost for a person with asthma compared to controls was € 2,299, corresponding to a pooled excess cost for all young Swedish adults with asthma of € 1,030,764,595 annually. Of the annual excess costs, 39% (€ 404,414,817) represented sick leave payments. <bold>Conclusion:</bold> The financial burden of asthma in Sweden is considerable and estimated to incur over € 1 billion in excess costs annually, with over one-third of costs related to possibly preventable asthma-related sick leave.