Environmental illness plagues kids, adds $76.6B to health costs
Poor childhood health caused by environmental factors, such as air pollution and exposure to toxic chemicals, cost the United States $76.6 billion in 2008, according to authors of a new study in the May issue of Health Affairs.
These costs represent a dramatic increase in recent years, rising from 2.8 percent of total healthcare costs in 1997 to 3.5 percent in 2008.
[See also: Healthcare costs' growth rate increases in the new year.]
The new study by Leonardo Trasande of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine focused on the cost of lead poisoning, childhood cancer and chronic conditions, including asthma, intellectual disability, autism and attention deficit disorder – conditions that are linked to environmental toxins and pollutants in the air, food, water, and soil, as well as in homes and neighborhoods.
"Left unchecked, these preventable environmental factors will continue to harm the health of our children and push up healthcare costs," Trasande said. "By updating environmental regulations and laws aimed at protecting the public's health, we can reduce the toll taken by such factors on children's health and the economy."
Researchers used recent data to estimate the number of environmentally induced conditions in children and then calculated the annual cost for direct medical care and indirect costs, such as lost productivity resulting from parents' caring for sick children. They found that the aggregate cost of environmental illness in children was $76.6 billion in 2008 dollars.
The study provides an update to an analysis of 1997 data that documented $54.9 billion in annual costs of environmentally contributable childhood diseases in the United States. In comparing the two studies, researchers found that diminished exposure to lead and reductions in costs for asthma care were offset by diseases newly identified as environmentally induced, including attention deficit disorder, and the added burden of mercury exposure. This toxic metal, from contaminated fish and coal-fired power plants, can harm the developing brain and is associated with intellectual disability.
Key findings from the study:
- Lead poisoning cost $50.9 billion
- Autism cost $7.9 billion
- Intellectual disability cost $5.4 billion
- Exposure to mercury (methyl mercury) cost $5.1 billion
- Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder cost $5 billion
- Asthma cost $2.2 billion
- Childhood cancer cost $95 million
The authors call for further reductions in lead-based paint hazards to protect children from lead poisoning, which can severely affect mental and physical development, and tighter air quality standards to curb mercury emissions, as well as reduce particulates that can trigger asthma.
They also call for testing of new chemicals and substances already in use to ensure they pose no risk to human health.
