How expensive is inflammatory bowel disease? A critical analysis

Table 1 Requirements of good cost-of-disease studies

Requirements
Economic analysis is carried out from the societal perspective
The cohort is community-based
The study provides knowledge of
Total direct cost of a disease
Inclusion of diagnostic costs and treatments until diagnosis
Inpatient and outpatient costs
Resources that drive costs
The analysis
Accounts for the skew of cost data
Provides for time-based discounted downstream costs
The result
Is applicable to patient cohorts from other countries
Provides a basis for cost–utility analysis