Prevalence and Costs of Eosinophilic Esophagitis in the United States

Background & Aims: Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) has been continually increasing in prevalence, but current estimates are lacking. We aimed to determine updated estimates of the prevalence and medical costs associated with EoE in the United States (U.S.).

Methods: We used two large administrative databases, MarketScan and Medicare, and International Classification of Disease codes to calculate annual prevalence of EoE, as well as age- and sex-stratified estimates, standardized to the U.S.

Population: Health care utilization, including medications and endoscopic procedures, was quantified, and annual EoE-associated costs were estimated.

Results: We identified 20,435 EoE cases in MarketScan in 2022 and 1913 EoE cases in Medicare in 2017. This translated to prevalences of 163.08 cases/100,000 and 64.83 cases/ 100,000 in MarketScan and Medicare, respectively. There was a 5-fold increase in prevalence in both databases since 2009. In MarketScan, prevalence was higher among males (204.45/100,000 vs 122.06/100,000 among females); for both sexes, peak prevalence was from 40 to 44 years of age. Standardized to the U.S. population, the prevalence of EoE was 142.5/100,000, extrapolating to 472,380 cases. Total EoE-associated health care costs were estimated to be $1.32 billion in 2024 dollars after accounting for inflation.

Conclusions: The prevalence of EoE continues to increase, with a rate of 1 in 617 in 2022 in those <65 years of age, and 1 in 1562 in 2017 those ≥65 years. Standardized to the U.S. population, the overall prevalence was approximately 1 in 700. EoE-associated annual costs were estimated to be $1.3 billion in 2024 dollars, representing a substantial financial burden.