In 2021, health care costs associated with gastrointestinal health reached $111.8 billion. But, this more than just a number. This statistic also represents the increasing physical and financial burdens on patients, medical professionals, and the overall healthcare system.
A three-year new report, led by gastroenterologist , details the current state of gastrointestinal (GI) health in the United States. Additionally, the findings, Gastroenterology, underscore the ongoing need for new scientific endeavors to help prevent and/or treat these highly prevalent and life-altering conditions.
“GI diseases are responsible for a considerable and growing burden of health care use and costs,” writes Peery, associate professor of medicine at the UNC School of Medicine.
“Funding innovative GI science and supporting the practice of GI medicine are critical to meeting the burden of GI illness.”
The research team used multiple data sources to generate statistics on GI symptoms, office-based and emergency department visits, adult and pediatric hospitalizations, cancer incidence and mortality, and health care expenditures between the years 2019-2023.
Here are some of their findings:
- Using data from the Rome Foundation Global Epidemiology study, approximately 60% of US adults reported having 1 or more frequent GI symptoms in the past 3 months.
- Abdominal pain remains the most common GI symptom leading to an office or emergency department visit, with more than 23 million visits in 2019.
- Pancreatic cancer incidence has steadily increased, with no change in mortality rates.
- Mortality rates from alcohol-associated liver disease continue to rise.
- Expenditures for GLP-1 agonists, a promising therapy for patients with MASLD, totaled a remarkable $30.9 billion in 2021.
- In 2022, colonoscopy rates doubled in adults aged 40 to 49 years compared to three years prior, corresponding with the new guidelines for colorectal cancer screening.
- In 2023, 10,660 liver transplants were performed, the largest number to date.
- In 2023, the National Institutes of Health supported $3.6 billion for GI research.
Other authors from the UNC School of Medicine include Chelsea Anderson, PhD, MPH; Sasha Deutsch-Link, MD; Matthew D. Egberg, MD, MPH; Evan S. Dellon, MD, MPH; Olafur S. Palsson, PsyD; Todd H. Baron, MD; Andrew M. Moon, MD, MPH; Nicholas J. Shaheen, MD, MPH; and Robert S. Sandler, MD, MPH.
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