Indirect costs related to caregivers' absence from work after paediatric tonsil surgery

Gunnhildur Gudnadottir, G Ragnarson Tennvall, J Stalfors, J Hellgren, Gunnhildur Gudnadottir, G Ragnarson Tennvall, J Stalfors, J Hellgren

Abstract

Tonsillotomy has gradually replaced tonsillectomy as the surgical method of choice in children with upper airway obstruction during sleep, because of less postoperative pain and a shorter recovery time. The aim of this study was to examine the costs related to caregivers' absenteeism from work after tonsillectomy (TE) and tonsillotomy (TT). All tonsillectomies and tonsillotomies in Sweden due to upper airway obstruction during 1 year, reported to the National Tonsil Surgery Register in children aged 1-11 were included, n = 4534. The number of days the child needed analgesics after surgery was used as a proxy to estimate the number of work days lost for the caregiver. Data from the Social Insurance Agency (Försäkringskassan) regarding the days the parents received temporary parental benefits in the month following surgery were also analysed. The indirect costs due to the caregivers' absenteeism after tonsillectomy vs tonsillotomy were calculated, using the human capital method. The patient-reported use of postoperative analgesic use was 77% (n = 3510). Data from the Social Insurance Agency were gathered for all 4534 children. The mean duration of analgesic treatment was 4.6 days (indirect cost of EUR 747). The mean number of days with parental benefits was 2.9 (EUR 667). The indirect cost of tonsillectomy was 61% higher than that of tonsillotomy (EUR 1010 vs EUR 629). The results show that the choice of surgical method affects the indirect costs, favouring the use of tonsillotomy over tonsillectomy for the treatment of children with SDB, due to less postoperative pain.

Keywords: Absenteeism; Health economy; Indirect cost; Tonsillectomy; Tonsillotomy.

Conflict of interest statement

Funding

This study was funded by The Göteborg Medical Society.

Conflict of interest

Gunnhildur Gudnadottir declares that she has no conlict of interest. Gunnel Ragnarson Tennvall declares that she has no conflict of interest. Joacim Stalfors declares that he has no conflict of interest. Johan Hellgren declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards local ethical review board at the University of Gothenburg and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow chart showing the selection of the study population

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Source: PubMed

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