Half-life of cost-of-illness estimates: the case of Spina Bifida

Neural tube defects, which include spina bifida, are one of the most frequent and important categories of birth defects. Accordingly, there has been considerable interest in studying the impact of spina bifida as a public health problem. This impact can be measured in various ways, including disease-specific mortality, morbidity, functional limitation or disability, and quality of life impairment. Each of these measures captures one component of the total burden of disease. Such measures of impact are important because they allow public health agencies, researchers, and health care providers to understand the effects of preventive or diagnostic interventions, changes in disease incidence or prevalence, and new technologies.