Burden of acute gastroenteritis, norovirus and rotavirus in a managed care population.

This study assessed and described the episode rate, duration of illness, and health care utilization and costs associated with acute gastroenteritis (AGE), norovirus gastroenteritis (NVGE), and rotavirus gastroenteritis (RVGE) in physician office, emergency department (ED), and inpatient care settings in the United States (US). The retrospective analysis was conducted using an administrative insurance claims database (2006–2011). AGE episode rates were assessed using medical (ICD-9-CM) codes for AGE; whereas a previously published “indirect” method was used in assessing estimated episode rates of NVGE and RVGE. We calculated per-patient, per-episode and total costs incurred in three care settings for the three diseases over five seasons. For each season, we extrapolated the total economic burden associated with the diseases to the US population. The overall AGE episode rate in the physician office care setting declined by 15% during the study period; whereas the AGE episode rate remained stable in the inp...