The economic burden of dengue: a systematic literature review of unit costs for non-fatal episodes treated in the formal healthcare system
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Leelavanich, Doungporn
Dorigatti, Ilaria
Turner, Hugo
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Background
Dengue, a vector-borne disease caused by the dengue virus, has emerged as a global public health concern, given the tenfold rise in reported cases over the last two decades. In light of the upcoming dengue interventions, country-specific cost-of-illness estimates are required to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of new interventions against dengue. This study aims to conduct an updated systematic review of dengue cost-of-illness studies, extracting the relevant data, and conducting regression analysis to explore potential factors contributing to the cost variations among countries.
Methods
We used the MEDLINE, EMBASE, PubMed, and Web of Science databases to systematically search for published dengue cost-of-illness studies reporting primary data on costs per dengue episode. A descriptive analysis was conducted across all extracted studies. Linear regression analysis was performed to investigate the association between the GDP per capita and cost per episode. The quality of the included studies was also assessed.
Results
Fifty-six studies were included, of which 22 used the societal perspective. The reported total cost per episode ranged from $15.0 for outpatients in Burkina Faso to $9,386.1 for intensive care unit patients in Mexico. Linear regression analysis revealed that the cost of dengue illness varies significantly across countries and regions, and was positively related to the setting’s GDP per capita. The quality assessment demonstrated that improvements are needed in future studies, particularly in the reporting of the methodology.
Conclusions
Cost of dengue illness varies widely across countries and regions. Future research should focus on understanding other drivers of cost variations beyond GDP per capita to improve the cost estimates for economic evaluation studies. The results presented in this study can serve as crucial input parameters for future economic evaluations, supporting decision makers in allocating resources for dengue intervention programmes.
Dengue, a vector-borne disease caused by the dengue virus, has emerged as a global public health concern, given the tenfold rise in reported cases over the last two decades. In light of the upcoming dengue interventions, country-specific cost-of-illness estimates are required to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of new interventions against dengue. This study aims to conduct an updated systematic review of dengue cost-of-illness studies, extracting the relevant data, and conducting regression analysis to explore potential factors contributing to the cost variations among countries.
Methods
We used the MEDLINE, EMBASE, PubMed, and Web of Science databases to systematically search for published dengue cost-of-illness studies reporting primary data on costs per dengue episode. A descriptive analysis was conducted across all extracted studies. Linear regression analysis was performed to investigate the association between the GDP per capita and cost per episode. The quality of the included studies was also assessed.
Results
Fifty-six studies were included, of which 22 used the societal perspective. The reported total cost per episode ranged from $15.0 for outpatients in Burkina Faso to $9,386.1 for intensive care unit patients in Mexico. Linear regression analysis revealed that the cost of dengue illness varies significantly across countries and regions, and was positively related to the setting’s GDP per capita. The quality assessment demonstrated that improvements are needed in future studies, particularly in the reporting of the methodology.
Conclusions
Cost of dengue illness varies widely across countries and regions. Future research should focus on understanding other drivers of cost variations beyond GDP per capita to improve the cost estimates for economic evaluation studies. The results presented in this study can serve as crucial input parameters for future economic evaluations, supporting decision makers in allocating resources for dengue intervention programmes.
Date Issued
2026-02-11
Date Acceptance
2025-12-22
Citation
BMC Infectious Diseases, 2026, 26
ISSN
1471-2334
Publisher
BMC
Journal / Book Title
BMC Infectious Diseases
Volume
26
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2026. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
320
Date Publish Online
2026-01-16