Estimates of the Lifetime Productivity Costs of Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, and Syphilis in the United States

Abstract

Background: Productivity costs of STIs reflect the value of lost time due to STI morbidity and mortality, including time spent travelling to, waiting for, and receiving STI treatment. The purpose of this study was to provide updated estimates of the average lifetime productivity cost for chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis, per incident infection.

Methods: We adapted published decision tree models from recent studies of the lifetime medical costs of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis in the United States. For each possible outcome of infection, we applied productivity costs that we obtained based on published health economic studies. Productivity costs included the value of patient time spent to receive treatment for STIs and for related sequelae such as pelvic inflammatory disease in women. We used a human capital approach and included losses in market (paid) and non-market (unpaid) productivity. We conducted one-way sensitivity analyses and probabilistic sensitivity analyses.

Results: The average lifetime productivity cost per infection was $28 for chlamydia in men, $205 for chlamydia in women, $37 for gonorrhea in men, $212 for gonorrhea in women, and $411 for syphilis regardless of sex, in 2023 US dollars. The estimated lifetime productivity costs of these STIs acquired in the United States in 2018 was $795 million.

Conclusions: These estimates of the lifetime productivity costs can help in quantifying the overall economic burden of STIs in the United States beyond just the medical cost burden and can inform cost-effectiveness analyses of STI prevention activities.