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Personal And Societal Health Quality Lost To Tuberculosis, Thaddeus L. Miller, Peter E. Hilsenrath, Scott J. N. Mcnabb, Jotam G. Pasipanodya, Stephen E. Weis

Eberhardt School of Business Faculty Articles

Background: In developed countries, tuberculosis is considered a disease with little loss of Quality-Adjusted Life Years (QALYs). Tuberculosis treatment is predominantly ambulatory and death from tuberculosis is rare. Research has shown that there are chronic pulmonary sequelae in a majority of patients who have completed treatment for pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB). This and other health effects of tuberculosis have not been considered in QALY calculations. Consequently both the burden of tuberculosis on the individual and the value of tuberculosis prevention to society are underestimated. We estimated QALYs lost to pulmonary TB patients from all known sources, and estimated health loss to …