Society and culture
The economic impact of the common cold is not well understood in much of the world.[82] In the United States, the common cold leads to 75–100 million physician visits annually at a conservative cost estimate of $7.7 billion per year. Americans spend $2.9 billion on over-the-counter drugs and another $400 million on prescription medicines for symptomatic relief.[89] More than one-third of people who saw a doctor received an antibiotic prescription, which has implications for antibiotic resistance.[89] An estimated 22–189 million school days are missed annually due to a cold. As a result, parents missed 126 million workdays to stay home to care for their children. When added to the 150 million workdays missed by employees suffering from a cold, the total economic impact of cold-related work loss exceeds $20 billion per year.[21][89] This accounts for 40% of time lost from work in the United States.[90]