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Background Only a few international studies have assessed the economic burden of atopic dermatitis (AD), and no costs-of-illness study for AD has been done for the Netherlands. Objectives To estimate the incidence, prevalence and health-care costs of AD in the Netherlands and to put these in an international perspective. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study by using the data of an information system of general practitioners (GPs). To calculate the health-care costs at the primary care level we assessed medical resources utilization. We assessed the costs of patients with more severe AD from a retrospective study of patient files at the department of dermatology of a general hospital. We compared our results with costs-of-illness studies for other countries. Results The overall general population incidence and prevalence of AD were 0.8% and 2.3%, respectively. The incidence and prevalence were high among children until the age of 6 years, respectively, 3.1% and 11.3%, but decreased rapidly thereafter. The total mean health-care costs per patient were US$71. The most significant costs were due to visits to the GP (US$32) and medication, mostly corticosteroids (US$21). Young children were treated more often with emollients alone. Only 7.8% of patients were referred to a specialist. The mean costs for these patients were US$186. Costsof-illness studies for Australia, Germany, the U.K., the U.S.A. and the Netherlands suggested that the costs associated with AD vary considerably across countries. Estimates of the costs-of-illness for AD ranged from US$71 in the Netherlands to US$2559 in Germany per patient due to variation in the study population (GP vs. hospital) and the number of cost components included. Studies that included costs due to the time spent on treatment had relatively high estimates. Conclusions The prevalence and incidence of AD are high among young children. In general, the health-care costs for AD were low. Patients' out-of-pocket... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A study was undertaken to investigate the clinical practice, yield, and costs of preoperative staging in patients with suspected NSCLC and to obtain baseline data for prospective studies on the cost effectiveness of (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography in the management of these patients.Methods: A retrospective study of the medical records of all patients with suspected NSCLC was performed during a 2 year interval (1993-4) in an academic and a large community hospital.Results: Three hundred and ninety five patients with suspected NSCLC were identified; 58 were deemed to be medically inoperable and 337 patients proceeded to the staging process. Staging required a mean (SD) of 5.1 (1.5) diagnostic tests per patient (excluding thoracotomy) carried out over a median period of 20 days (IQR 10-31). Many of the tests (including both invasive and non-invasive) were done because previous imaging tests had suggested metastases, and in most cases the results of initial tests proved to be false positives. After clinical staging, 168 patients were considered to be resectable (stage I/II) and 144 patients underwent surgery with curative intent. At surgery 33 patients (23% of those who underwent surgery) were found to have irresectable lesions and 19 (13%) had a benign lesion. Surgery was also considered to be futile in 22 patients (15%) who developed metastases or local recurrence within 12 months following radical surgery. Hospital admission was responsible for most of the costs.Conclusion: In many patients staging involved considerable effort in terms of the number of diagnostic tests, the duration of the staging period and the cost, with limited success in preventing futile surgery. Failures relate to the quality of diagnostic preparation at every level of the TNM staging system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]