The impact of lactose intolerance diagnosis: costs, timing, and quality-of-life

Lactose intolerance (LI) is a very common condition but, despite many efforts of the Italian National Health Service to reduce diagnostic delay of chronic disorders and provide prompt treatments, its early diagnosis remains an unmet need. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated this problem, due to the conversion of many public health services to COVID centers. This study aims to analyze the diagnostic journey of patients suffering from LI, taking into account the duration of the process, associated costs, and impact on quality of life. Anonymous surveys were designed and distributed to patients with LI as well as physicians involved in LI management. The data were analyzed to determine the time required for a reliable LI diagnosis and average costs. Diagnostic delay of LI proved to be longer than 2 years, its impact on quality of life proved to be moderate to high in most of participants, especially in their psychosocial domain, and average costs proved to be high. Further investigations are needed to determine the economic burden of maintaining an asymptomatic status in patients with LI.