Total Societal Cost of Food Poisoning Patients

Abstract

This study estimated the total annual societal cost of food poisoning patients using the Cost of Illness (COI) approach. We estimated direct costs, such as medical expenses, transportation, and formal caregiving costs, and indirect costs, including those associated with premature mortality, lost productivity, lost leisure, and reduced quality of life and pain. The results show that the combined annual total direct and indirect costs for outpatients and inpatients averaged 16,308 billion KRW from 2016 to 2018. The indirect cost of family informal caregiving was an average of 73.8 billion KRW, and the total cost of mild-symptom cases— those experiencing symptoms of food poisoning without needing physician’s treatments whose costs are mostly due to over-the-counter medications—was 32.2 billion KRW on average over three years. Consequently, the average total social cost attributed to food poisoning was 1,663.1 billion KRW, equivalent to 0.09% of GDP and 0.41% of the total government expenditure for the same period. This research distinguishes itself from previous studies by estimating various direct and indirect costs for outpatients, inpatients, and mild-symptom cases, including their medical expenses, costs associated with leisure loss, and costs related to reduced quality of life and pain. The findings of this study are expected to offer valuable insights for prompt and objective risk assessment when making decisions for food safety management within both governmental and food-industrial contexts.