Gastrointestinal Disease Tied to High Physical, Financial Burden

FRIDAY, April 18, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Gastrointestinal (GI) diseases are responsible for a considerable and growing burden of health care use and costs within the United States, according to a study recently published online in Gastroenterology.

Anne F. Peery, M.D., from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and colleagues estimated the burden and costs associated with GI diseases in the United States.

The researchers found that in 2021, GI health care expenditures totaled $111.8 billion. An estimated 14.5 million emergency department visits and 2.9 million hospital admissions resulted from a GI diagnosis or symptom. One in six U.S. adults reported having one or more frequent GI symptoms in the past three months. Diagnoses of 315,065 new GI cancers were made, and GI diseases caused 281,413 deaths. An estimated 23.5 million GI endoscopies were performed in 2022. The National Institutes of Health supported $3.6 billion for GI research in 2023, representing 7.4 percent of its budget.

“Our report captures the remarkable and changing burden of GI diseases in the United States,” the authors write. “There is an ongoing need to support GI sciences, which offers the promise of preventing or treating these highly prevalent and morbid conditions. There is also clearly an extraordinary demand for specialized teams that practice GI medicine and provide the daily support and care for patients with GI diseases.”

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