Using US health insurance data from 2019 to 2023, a study recently published in the Journal of Medical Economy quantified the number of workdays lost annually by working-age adults with pulmonary arterial hypertension due to medical appointments and care. The cost of this lost productivity was estimated using average household income as a benchmark.
The findings show that each person with pulmonary arterial hypertension lost an average of 21 to 23 workdays per year — over 8% of total annual working time — with an estimated productivity loss of between $8,800 and $9,600 per person per year. The majority of missed days were linked to emergency room visits, outpatient appointments and office visits, while hospital admissions accounted for around 11% of total days lost.
The authors conclude that pulmonary arterial hypertension places a substantial indirect economic burden on patients and society, and that quantifying this productivity loss should inform future healthcare policy decisions and economic evaluations of pulmonary arterial hypertension treatments.
Read more at this link on the Journal of Medical Economy
Citation
Watzker A, Ferro C, Dieguez G, Girdish C, Alsumali A, Lautsch D, El-Kersh K. Loss of productivity among commercially insured patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension in the United States. J Med Econ. 2026 Dec;29(1):909-918. doi: 10.1080/13696998.2026.2642553. Epub 2026 Mar 20. PMID: 41861398.