Economic Burden of Hepatitis C Infection.

The economic burden of chronic hepatitis C might exceed $10 billion annually in the United States alone. This disease has a worldwide prevalence of up to 3%, making the global burden of the disease comparably tremendous. The cost of the disease includes direct medical expenses for its hepatic and extrahepatic manifestations, and also indirect costs incurred from impaired quality of life and the loss of work productivity. Recent emergence of treatment options that are not only highly effective and safe but also costly has emphasized the need to study the disease from the economic point of view.