The Cost of Blindness in the Republic of Ireland 2010–2020
Table 5
Sensitivity analysis 2010–2020. The table illustrates the upper (+20%) and lower (−20%) limits around each point estimate. For informal care costs, 21.79 (average hourly wage in 2010) is used as the higher estimate and 8.65 (minimum hourly wage in 2010) is used as the lower estimate of the cost per hour of informal care provided. The effect of reducing deadweight welfare losses to 9% gives the lower estimate for this parameter. This table thus provides a range and a mean or “likely” figure for the costs associated with blindness.
2010
2015
2020
(A) Healthcare costs
Direct healthcare costs due to blindness
1,587,857 2,381,785
1,732,904 2,599,356
1,860,468 2,790,702
Cost of depression due to blindness
1,068,656 1,602,985
1,255,744 1,883,616
1,480,002 2,220,002
Cost of injurious falls due to blindness
798,934 1,198,492
915,943 1,283,409
915,043 1,372,565
Total
3,455,447 5,183,262
3,904,591 5,766,381
4,255,513 6,383,269
(B) Nonhealthcare costs
Lost productivity
46,333,030 69,499,544
50,434,403 75,651,605
54,223,490 81,335,234
Informal care
86,040,623 216,742,794
101,104,245 254,689,190
119,159,217 300,171,020
Deadweight loss
50,413,452 75,620,179
59,247,479 88,871,219
67,353,990 101,030,984
Total
182,787,105 361,862,517
210,786,127 419,212,014
240,736,697 482,537,238
Total financial costs of blindness, (A) + (B)
186,242,552 367,045,779
214,690,718 424,978,395
244,992,210 488,920,507
Average financial cost per blind individual (higher estimate)
28,245
27,831
27,167
Average financial cost per blind individual (lower estimate)
14,332
14,060
13,613
(C) Economic value of total DALYs
Total economic cost of blindness, (A) + (B) + (C)
608,829,258 1,000,925,747
711,601,788 1,170,435,505
831,417,070 1,368,557,797
Average economic cost per blind individual (higher estimate)
77,024
76,649
76,044
Average economic cost per blind individual (lower estimate)
