Epidemiology, economic, and humanistic burden of hereditary angioedema: a systematic review

This systematic study aims to assess the global epidemiologic, economic, and humanistic burden of illness associated with all types of hereditary angioedema.

A systematic search for articles reporting the epidemiologic, economic, and humanistic burden associated with patients with HAE was conducted using English and Chinese literature databases from the inception to May 23, 2022. The selected studies were assessed for their quality and risk of bias. The study was conducted in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses and registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO; CRD42022352377).

In total, 65 articles that met the search inclusion criteria reported 10,310 patients with HAE, of whom 5861 were female patients. Altogether, 4312 patients (81%) and 479 patients (9%) had type 1 and type 2 HAE, respectively, whereas 422 patients (8%) had HAE-normal C1-INH. The overall prevalence of all types of HAE was between 0.13 and 1.6 cases per 100,000. The mean or median delay from the first onset of a symptom of HAE to confirmed diagnosis ranged from 3.9 to 26 years. The estimated risk of death from asphyxiation was 8.6% for patients with HAE. Hospitalization, medication, unnecessary surgeries, doctor visits, specialist services, and nursing costs are direct expenses that contribute to the growing economic burden. The indirect cost accounted mostly due to missing work ($3402/year) and loss of productivity ($5750/year). Furthermore, impairment of QoL as reported by patient-reported outcomes was observed. QoL measures identified depression, anxiety, and stress to be the most common symptoms for adult patients and children.

This study highlights the importance of early diagnosis and the need for improving awareness among health care professionals to reduce the burden of HAE on patients and society.