Despite availability of a cheap, widely accessible vaccine, pertussis remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality in children worldwide. A resurgence of pertussis in Brazil peaked at 8,815 cases in 2014. We estimate the economic burden of pertussis hospitalizations and outpatient cases in Brazil in 2014.

Taking the Brazilian public health system (SUS) perspective we obtained numbers of hospitalizations from the National Hospitalization Information System (SIH) for discharge diagnosis ICD10:A37 and numbers of confirmed outpatient cases from the surveillance information system (SINAN). We estimated costs per case for seven age groups (<1, 1-4, 5-9, 10-19, 20-39, 40-64, and 65+ years). Hospitalization costs were obtained from SIH, which reimburses direct medical (hospital stay, healthcare professional services, and physical therapy) and non-medical costs (parent/caregiver stay accompanying a hospitalized child). Cost of outpatient management was estimated from national guidelines (diagnostic exams, medical visits, and medications) and national pricing lists. Total economic burden was derived by multiplying costs/case by numbers of hospitalized and outpatient cases, respectively, and converted to US Dollars (USD) (December 2014: 1 BRL = USD 0.39).

A total of 8,815 pertussis cases occurred in Brazil in 2014; 55.9 percent were hospitalized. Total cost to the public health care system was USD 2.6 million, 95 percent for hospitalizations. Cost/case was highest at the extremes of age for both hospitalized <1y, BRL 1,378.54 (USD 537); 65y+, BRL 1,875.00 (USD 731) and outpatient cases BRL 41 (USD 16) for <4y and 20y + . Children <4 years accounted for 95.4 percent of hospitalizations, 51.2 percent of outpatient cases, and 95.4 percent of total costs. Children <1 year accounted for 88.1 percent of hospitalizations, 29.1 percent of outpatient cases, and 89.3 percent of total costs.

Pertussis economic burden in an outbreak year was largely due to hospitalizations in children <1y. Additional prevention strategies are required targeting this population.