Robert L. Scharff

Economic Burden from Health Losses Due to Foodborne Illness in the United States

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently revised their estimates for the annual number of foodborne illnesses; 48 million Americans suffer from domestically acquired foodborne illness associated with 31 identified pathogens and a broad category of unspecified agents. Consequently, economic studies based on the previous estimates are now obsolete. This study was conducted to provide improved and updated estimates of the cost of foodborne illness by adding a replication of the 2011 CDC model to existing cost-of-illness models. The basic cost-of-illness model includes economic estimates for medical costs, productivity losses, and illness-related mortality (based on hedonic value-of-statistical-life studies). The enhanced cost-of-illness model replaces the productivity loss estimates with a more inclusive pain, suffering, and functional disability measure based on monetized quality-adjusted life year estimates. Costs are estimated for each pathogen and a broader class of unknown pathogens. The addition of updated cost data and improvements to methodology enhanced the performance of each existing economic model. Uncertainty in these models was characterized using Monte Carlo simulations in @Risk version 5.5. With this model, the average cost per case of foodborne illness was

An Economic Evaluation of PulseNet: A Network for Foodborne Disease Surveillance.

1,626 (90% credible interval [CI],

State estimates for the annual cost of foodborne illness.

607 to

The Heterogeneity in Financial and Time Burden of Caregiving to Children with Chronic Conditions

3,073) for the enhanced cost-of-illness model and

Precautionary Savings Against Health Risks: Evidence From the Health and Retirement Study

1,068 (90% CI,

Evaluation of an educational intervention using the enhanced food safety cost-of-illness model.

683 to

Food Safety Instruction Improves Knowledge and Behavior Risk and Protection Factors for Foodborne Illnesses in Pregnant Populations

1,646) for the basic model. The resulting aggregated annual cost of illness was

An Economic Evaluation of Food Safety Education Interventions: Estimates and Critical Data Gaps

77.7 billion (90% CI,

Risk Attitudes and Heterogeneous Rates of Time Preference

28.6 to

Will ‘doing right’ lead to ‘doing well’? An examination of green behavior

144.6 billion) and