The prevalence of allergic diseases such as allergic rhinitis (AR) and asthma is markedly increasing worldwide as societies adopt western life styles.
An estimated 300 million people worldwide have asthma, about 50% of whom live in developing countries and about 400 million people suffer from AR.
The US is the largest developed country in the world and India is the second most populous country. Although it is a third world country, it has a middle class population equivalent to that of US
Methods:
A review of the comparative data on prevalence, economic burden and epidemiology of Allergic Rhinitis was done along with the comparison on available health care and professional services.
Results:
The data studied showed a gigantic difference in the expenditure and available health care between the US and India. The total direct ($7.3 billion) and indirect costs ($4.28billion, including loss of productivity) estimated in the United States for 2002 were $11.58 billion. This pales into insignificance the Indian Government current health expenditure of $5.9 million. Allergic rhinitis affects between 10% and 30% of all adults and as many as 40% of children 1 . In India, allergic rhinitis (AR) is considered to be a trivial disease, despite the fact that symptoms of rhinitis were present in 75% of children and 80% of asthmatic adults The ISAAC phase one data from India revealed that nasal symptoms alone were present in 12.5% children in the 6-7 years age group and 18.6 % in the 13-14 years age group. In India we spend almost 1000 crores in medication each year. Besides, there is a huge difference in the available specialists in the two countries.
Conclusions:
The quantum difference in the expenditure and available health care for AR in US raises questions whether the US is overspending on disease causing mainly morbidity. However, the data revealed that a vast number of patients in India with AR are under diagnosed and are suffering not only from the complications of the disease, but also have a poor quality of life (QOL), Mitigation of which is the primary goal of therapy of AR.