The Economic Burden of Epstein–Barr Virus Infection in the Russian Federation

Abstract

Introduction: Epstein–Barr virus-related diseases are of great medical and social importance, which requires assessment of economic losses due to costs of medical care and sickness absenteeism. Objective: To propose a methodology for assessing economic damage and to use it for quantification of total damages caused by Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) infections in the Russian Federation in 2022. Materials and methods: The economic damage from EBV infections was determined using official statistics on cases of infectious mononucleosis (2022), upper respiratory tract infections, cardiac arrhythmias, atopic dermatitis, dorsopathy, chronic tonsillitis in the acute phase, cerebrovascular disease, psoriasis, and multisystem inflammatory syndrome associated with COVID-19. Results: Based on the methodology for assessing economic damages described in the article, we found that the total financial losses from EBV-associated diseases in the Russian Federation in 2022 amounted to 1,203.0 billion or 1.2 trillion rubles, which is significantly higher than similar values for all other registered infectious diseases with the exception of COVID-19. COVID-19-related multisystem inflammatory syndrome, upper respiratory tract infections, and cerebrovascular disease account for more than 90 % of all losses. The structure of total costs is dominated by indirect economic losses (1,096.75 billion rubles or 91.2 %) due to sickness absence from work. Conclusion: The findings allow us to outline directions of developing measures to reduce the economic damage from EBV-associated diseases.