The burden of congenital hyperinsulinism in the United Kingdom: a cost of illness study

BACKGROUND: Congenital hyperinsulinism (CHI) is a rare, genetic disease which causes persistent hypoglycaemia, typically in new-borns. Patients with the diffuse disease variant often require near-total surgical removal of the pancreas, causing insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). The CHI economic burden is currently unknown. This study aimed to estimate the annual cost of illness (COI) of CHI patients in the UK from a service provider perspective (National Health Service, NHS and Personal Social Services), and to explore cost distribution within the patient population. METHODS: The model was based on standard practice of two CHI centres of excellence. Model inputs were informed by a pragmatic literature review, NHS Reference Costs (2015–2016) and the British National Formulary (2017). Only direct costs to the NHS and Personal Social Services were considered. A prevalence-based approach was used and annual costs incurred at all ages were calculated. A deterministic sensitivity analysis (DSA; run at 10%) identified major cost drivers. RESULTS: The COI of CHI patients to the NHS was £3,408,398.59 annually and average cost per patient was £2124.95. Cost distribution was skewed among CHI patients, with 5.9% of patients (95 patients in their first year of life) contributing to 61.8% (£2,105,491.07) of total costs. DSA results identified lack of response to first-line therapy and IDDM development post surgery (and associated healthcare costs) as major cost drivers. CONCLUSIONS: Despite its rare disease status, estimated annual costs of CHI to the NHS were substantial. Development and management of post-surgical IDDM as a major cost driver highlights the need for effective treatments to mitigate such consequences and costs. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s13023-018-0867-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.