Measuring the burden of herpes zoster disease in Costa Rica
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51481/amc.v59i4.979Keywords:
Herpes zoster, Cost of illness, Pain, Quality of life, Health care resource utilizationAbstract
Background: Herpes zoster is a distressing illness that significantly reduces patients' quality of life. However, Costa Rican data regarding the clinical burden of herpes zoster and associated health care resource utilization is limited. This study aimed to assess the zoster-associated burden evaluating pain, impact on quality of life and health care resource utilization in a Costa Rican sample.
Methods: Herpes zoster patients recruited in Costa Rica at a private geriatric practice were enrolled at various time points during a zoster episode and were actively followed over 6 months. Outcomes including zoster-associated pain, quality of life and health care resource utilization were assessed via patient self-reported questionnaires.
Results: 50 zoster patients were included [68.0% female, mean (SD) age = 69.5 (10.8) years]. Zoster-associated pain decreased over time while quality of life improved though without full base recovery. The highest health care resource utilization included doctor's office (98.0%), emergency room (60.0%) and specialists (60.0%) visits. Sixteen (32.0%) patients were hospitalized [mean (SD) = 4.3 (4.1) days].
Conclusion: Similar to other Latin American countries, high herpes zoster burden was observed in a private geriatric practice in Costa Rica, supporting the need for early intervention and preventive strategies, one of such could be the implementation of a HZ vaccination program.
Downloads
References
Gilden DH, Kleinschmidt-DeMasters BK, LaGuardia JJ, Mahalingam R, Cohrs RJ. Neurologic complications of the reactivation of varicella-zoster virus. N Engl J Med 2000; 342: 635-645.
Johnson RW, Whitton TL. Management of herpes zoster (shingles) and postherpetic neuralgia. Expert Opin Pharmacother 2004; 5: 551-559.
Cohen KR, Salbu RL, Frank J, Israel I. Presentation and management of herpes zoster (shingles) in the geriatric population. PT 2013; 38: 217-227.
McElhaney JE. Herpes zoster: a common disease that can have a devastating impact on patients' quality of life. Expert Rev Vaccines 2010; 9: 27-30.
Zostavax® Product Information: Zoster Virus Vaccine Lives (Oka/Merck). 2014.
Oxman MN, Levin MJ, Johnson GR, Schmader KE, Straus SE, Gelb LD, et al. A vaccine to prevent herpes zoster and postherpetic neuralgia in older adults. N Engl J Med 2005; 352: 2271-2284.
Opstelten W, Eekhof J, Neven AK, Verheij T. Treatment of herpes zoster. Can Fam Physician 2008; 54: 373-377.
Jeon YH. Herpes Zoster and Postherpetic Neuralgia: Practical Consideration for Prevention and Treatment. Korean J Pain 2015; 28: 177-184.
Chen N, Li Q, Yang J, Zhou M, Zhou D, He L. Antiviral treatment for preventing postherpetic neuralgia. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2014: Cd006866.
Studahl M, Petzold M, Cassel T. Disease burden of herpes zoster in Sweden-predominance in the elderly and in women - a register based study. BMC Infect Dis 2013; 13: 586.
Yawn BP, Gilden D. The global epidemiology of herpes zoster. Neurology 2013; 81: 928-930.
Insinga RP, Itzler RF, Pellissier JM, Saddier P, Nikas AA. The incidence of herpes zoster in a United States administrative database. J Gen Intern Med 2005; 20: 748-753.
Dworkin RH, Johnson RW, Breuer J, Gnann JW, Levin MJ, Backonja M, et al. Recommendations for the management of herpes zoster. Clin Infect Dis 2007; 44 Suppl 1: S1-26.
Canadian Immunization Guide. Public Health Agency of Canada. Part 4 - Active Vaccines, 2014. Available at: http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/publicat/ cig-gci/p04-herp-zona-eng.php#epi. [Last accessed: 17 December 2015].
Morse SS. Factors in the emergence of infectious diseases. Emerg Infect Dis 1995; 1: 7-15.
Nagasako EM, Johnson RW, Griffin DR, Elpern DJ, Dworkin RH. Geographic and racial aspects of herpes zoster. J Med Virol 2003; 70 Suppl 1: S20-23.
C.C.S.S. (Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social), Area Health Statistics. Egresos hospitalarios debidos a Herpes Zoster por año según sexo y grupo de edad. 2015.
Aunhachoke K, Bussaratid V, Chirachanakul P, Chua-Intra B, Dhitavat J,
Jaisathaporn K, et al. Measuring herpes zoster, zoster-associated pain, postherpetic neuralgia-associated loss of quality of life, and healthcare utilization and costs in Thailand. Int J Dermatol 2011; 50: 428-435.
Drolet M, Brisson M, Levin MJ, Schmader KE, Oxman MN, Johnson RW, et al. A prospective study of the herpes zoster severity of illness. Clin J Pain 2010; 26: 656-666.
Drolet M, Brisson M, Schmader K, Levin M, Johnson R, Oxman M, et al. Predictors of postherpetic neuralgia among patients with herpes zoster: a prospective study. J Pain 2010; 11: 1211-1221.
Song H, Lee J, Lee M, Choi WS, Choi JH, Lee MS, et al. Burden of illness, quality of life, and healthcare utilization among patients with herpes zoster in South Korea: a prospective clinical-epidemiological study. Int J Infect Dis 2014; 20: 23-30.
Tsai TF, Yao CA, Yu HS, Lan CC, Chao SC, Yang JH, et al. Herpes zosterassociated severity and duration of pain, health-related quality of life, and healthcare utilization in Taiwan: a prospective observational study. Int J Dermatol 2015; 54: 529-536.
Vujacich C, de Wouters L, Margari A, Gordovil M, Kawai K, Lemos E, et al. Assessment of Burden of Illness Due to Herpes Zoster in Argentina: A Prospective Observational Study. Value Health 2013; 16: A668.
Coplan PM, Schmader K, Nikas A, Chan IS, Choo P, Levin MJ, et al. Development of a measure of the burden of pain due to herpes zoster and postherpetic neuralgia for prevention trials: adaptation of the brief pain inventory. J Pain 2004; 5: 344-356.
Balestroni G, Bertolotti G. [EuroQol-5D (EQ-5D): an instrument for measuring quality of life]. Monaldi Arch Chest Dis 2012; 78: 155-159.
Zarate V, Kind P, Chuang LH. Hispanic valuation of the EQ-5D health states:
a social value set for Latin Americans. Value Health 2008; 11: 1170-1177.
Yawn BP, Itzler RF, Wollan PC, Pellissier JM, Sy LS, Saddier P. Health care utilization and cost burden of herpes zoster in a community population. Mayo Clin Proc 2009; 84: 787-794.
Kawai K, Rampakakis E, Tsai TF, Cheong HJ, Dhitavat J, Covarrubias AO, et al. Predictors of postherpetic neuralgia in patients with herpes zoster: a pooled analysis of prospective cohort studies from North and Latin America and Asia. Int J Infect Dis 2015; 34: 126-131.
Downloads
Published
Versions
- 2017-11-20 (2)
- 2017-11-20 (1)
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2017 Acta Médica Costarricense
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Los autores que publican en la revista Acta Médica Costarricense pueden distribuir, copiar, remezclar, retocar, leer, descargar, imprimir, buscar y crear a partir de su obra de modo no comercial, indicando los créditos a la revista y sus autores y compartir su obra en las mismas condiciones. Para ello se aplica la licencia Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial-CompartirIgual 4.0 Internacional(CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
