Background: While medical costs of chickenpox have been researched, little is known about indirect costs. Understanding total costs is important for decisions about vaccination. This study estimated the value of lost productivity of adults missing work to care for children with chickenpox.
Research design and methods: It comprised an international literature review, an online survey of 1,526 parents of children aged 1-11 years, and computation of indirect costs of chickenpox in the UK. The survey covered chickenpox episodes amongst respondents' children, time children took off school/nursery, and work absenteeism by parents/caregivers caring for them.
Results: Respondents reported on 2,283 children, of whom 52% (1185/2283) experienced chickenpox. Almost half (591/1185) missed days of school/nursery, averaging 5.6 days missed. In 260 cases of 542 adults providing data with such a child, an adult missed work to care for the child. The daily value of this lost productivity was £170. There were approximately 200,000 GP consultations for chickenpox and 625,000 births annually, suggesting the annual chickenpox incidence lies between these figures. The estimated annual UK productivity loss due to chickenpox is £20-£70 million ($25-$90 million).
Conclusions: Annual value of lost productivity due to chickenpox is in range £20 to £70 million.
Keywords: Chickenpox; child health; communicable diseases; costs; lost productivity.