Form to compute the financial losses due to a certain medical condition in a population

This form calculates the estimated productivity losses in a population (e.g., a country, or an organization) due to various medical conditions (e.g., diabetes, anxiety disorders, burnout, etcetera).

It generates a number that represents "annual costs", that is, the annual financial losses incurred by that population due to that medical condition.

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Enter the appropriate numbers in the fields below

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Population size. (This represents the number of people in that population. For instance, in the case of Romania, this is 20000000. In the case of, say, Microsoft Corporation, this number is 135000, which is the total number of employees hired by Microsoft)

Population size:

Incidence of the condition. (This represents the number of new cases suffering from that condition, or the risk of developing that condition in a population. In the case of conditions that are relatively constant in a population (e.g., mental illnesses as opposed to Ebola), point prevalence (the percentage of people who suffer from that condition at a given moment in time) may be used instead of the incidence, because the values are virtually the same. You will need to know the prevalence or the incidence of the condition you are interested in in your target population. If you do not know that and if your target population is not very special (such as inmates, for instance), google for this information in the general population, or in your industry of interest, to get a rough estimate.)

IMPORTANT: enter the percentage in decimal format (e.g., 0.08 instead of 8%).

Incidence of the condition:

Duration of the episode. (This is how long that medical condition lasts, on average. This information is typically found in the literature. For instance, the average duration of a depressive episode is 8 months. For Generalized Anxiety Disorder, or for substance abuse, in the absence of treatment, it can be a lifetime. For the flu, it is about two weeks).

IMPORTANT: enter the duration of the episode in YEARS, not in months or days. For instance, if the duration of that episode is 8 months, enter 0.66; If it is 6 months, enter 0.5; If it is 18 months, enter 1.5.

NOTE: if the duration is less than one year, then enter that decimal value. It will generate the annual costs of that condition in that population. However, if the duration is more than one year, enter "1" if you want to calculate the annual costs, or enter the actual number of years (e.g., 20) if you want to calculate the total costs associated with that condition in that population.

Duration of the episode:

Productivity loss due to that medical condition. (Usually, this information is in the literature. For instance, for depression, the average productivity loss is about 20%, i.e., 0.2).

IMPORTANT: Write the percentage in decimal format (e.g., 0.2, not 20%).

Productivity loss due to that medical condition:

Gross annual salary. (This is the average gross annual salary in that population in your preferred currency. For instance, the yearly average total compensation per person at Facebook is 155000 USD, so in the field below you would enter 155000).

NOTE: enter only the number, not the actual currency you want to compute this in. The currency is just something for you to keep in mind when you interpret the results.

Gross annual salary:

Now press the COMPUTE COSTS button below to calculate the estimated costs due to the disability associated with this medical condition in this population.

COSTS =

LEGEND

COSTS = the financial losses (annual or total, depending on the duration of the episode you entered) incurred by that entity (country / organization) due to the existence of that medical condition in that population.

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EXAMPLE

Let's talk about a concrete example. Let's say that we have a company employing 10000 people, with a gross average salary of 100000 $/year. Let's say that, based on a prior organizational assessment, we know that the (point) prevalence of depression in this organization is 12% (i.e., 0.12). We also know from literature that the average duration of a depressive episode is 8 months (i.e., 0.66 years). Furthermore, we know from the scientific literature that the average productivity loss for depression is approximately 20% (i.e., 0.20). With these numbers, we can now calculate the financial losses due to depression in this organization.

The results for this hypothetical organization are:

ANNUAL COSTS OF DEPRESSION IN THIS POPULATION = 15840000 dollars per year

This means that, each year, this organization loses approximately 15 million dollars due to the existence of this medical condition in its employees. Other medical conditions in this population will increase these costs further. This number also suggests that intervention programs for depression in this population will likely lead to substantial savings and profit increases.

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