Estimating the burden of illness related to genital warts in the Philippines: a nationally representative cross-sectional study

Background This study estimated genital warts prevalence, genital-warts-related healthcare resource use and costs, and self-reported human-papillomavirus-related psychosocial impact among male and female patients aged 18-60 years in the Philippines. Methods Prevalence was estimated using daily logs numbering genital warts patients treated by participating physicians in 4 Philippine regions over a 5-week period (09JUL2011-24SEP2012). Physicians also completed a survey assessing patient referral patterns, healthcare resource use, treatment, and follow-up care. Psychosocial impact was estimated using the human papillomavirus impact profile and the EQ-5D questionnaires. HIP and EQ-5D scores were compared according to the presence of GW (males) and HPV disease (females). CECA scores were also compared by gender and age groups. Results Overall genital warts prevalence was estimated at 4.78% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.58-4.98%) for men and women aged 18-60 years. Genital warts prevalence was 3.39% (95% CI: 3.13-3.65%) and 8.0% (95% CI: 7.69-8.31%) among women and men, respectively. Prevalence estimates were highest in infectious disease specialist practices 18.67% (95% CI: 18.66-18.69%). Two thirds of the 233 (69.14%) male and 166 (67.20%) female patients were newly-diagnosed genital warts cases. Median costs for genital warts diagnosis and treatment reached 7121 and 7000 Philippine pesos among men and women, respectively. In the Cuestionario Especifico para Condiloma Acuminado questionnaire, no statistically significant differences between patients were observed. In the EQ-5D questionnaire, male genital warts patients reported lower mean visual analogue scale scores than those without genital warts (78.20 vs 86.34, p < 0.0001). Mean visual analogue scale score values and utility values were lower for women with human-papillomavirus-related diseases than those without (77.98 vs 78.93, and 0.84 vs 0.88, respectively). Conclusions Genital warts is prevalent in the Philippines; more than 60% of cases were newly diagnosed, contributing to high genital-warts-related healthcare resource costs. Diagnosis of genital warts and human papillomavirus negatively impacted psychosocial indices such as patient well-being and health-related quality of life.