Direct Costs of Asthma in a Referral Public Children's Hospital in Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases all over the world, which impacts socioeconomics of families and health care systems. We need to estimate the costs of asthma to set health policies and structural adjustments to control burden of asthma in societies. The aim of present study was to evaluate direct costs of asthma in children in Tehran-Iran. In a descriptive-analytical study, 100 children who were referred to Children’s Medical Center of Tehran University of Medical sciences, from March 2014 to March 2015, were selected randomly and studied. In an interview with parents we evaluated direct costs of asthma including physician fees, admission fees, medication costs, costs of transportation, and others. In present study, 72 patients (72.0%) were male and 28 patients (28.0%) were female with mean age of 6.9±0.3 years old. Annual mean of direct costs of outpatient care were calculated 5,179,000±620,000 Rials (159.3±19$), and with considering the admission costs, direct medical expenditure were calculated 6,069,600±140,000 Rials (186.7±4$) throughout the year. Non-medical annual costs of asthma in children were calculated 4,439,700±437,540 Rials (136.6±13$) during 2014-2015 in Tehran-Iran. Based on findings of present study, total costs of asthma with the help of close physician follow ups and effective usage of medications has decreased in recent decades; furthermore, in our study, outpatient management costs which accounted for 85.5% of total direct costs of asthma in children, had the largest share of direct costs of asthma management.