Disease burden studies are essential for raising awareness about the impact that a given health condition has on society. The results of the studies address both the economic and clinical burden of this condition and can be presented to managers, physicians and other stakeholders of the health system to aid decision-making. It is also possible to make models that predict the effect of a given technology on the burden of this health condition.

The clinical burden of disease study is an analysis related to the quantification of disability-adjusted life years (DALY) lost associated with the disease in question. The DALY measurement is based on the premise that each individual has a certain life expectancy at birth, that is, the number of years of life expected with the potential for optimal health status, however, there are losses of years of life (early death) or reduced quality of life due to disability due to disease (DEVLEESSCHAUWER et al., 2014a). Thus, DALY is a unit that results from the sum of years lost due to early death (years of life lost, YLL) and years lived with disability (years lived with disability, YLD), combining mortality and morbidity. Thus, disease burden studies cover a broad quantification of the physical, psychological and social impact of the disease, that is, they are not restricted to the absence or presence of the disease.

To assess the economic burden of the health condition, two parameters are evaluated; the direct and indirect costs of this condition. Direct medical costs are those that refer to the medical intervention itself, such as medications, surgeries, hospitalizations, consultations, exams, etc. Indirect costs are those related to lost productivity, which are measured by absenteeism and presenteeism.