Estimation of The Direct and Indirect Costs of Lung Cancer in Tabriz in 1395

Abstract

Abstract of original study Purpose: costs estimation is essential and important in order to resource allocation and prioritizing different interventions in the health system. The objective of this study was to estimate the costs of lung cancer in Iran, in .

Materials and methods: This was a prevalence-based cost of illness study with a bottom-up approach costing. Hospitalization costs extracted from the patient's record and outpatient costs, nonmedical direct costs and indirect costs collected using questionnaire. The sample included 645 patients who referred to Imam Reza hospital, in Tabriz, Iran, in 2017. SPSS software version 22 was used for the data analysis. To examine the association between demographic variables and cost items the non-parametric tests (Mann-Withney and Kruskal-Wallis and Spearman correlation) were used. Also, generalized linear model used to explore the the effect of some demographic and socio-economic variables on direct medical costs.

Results: Mean medical direct costs, non-medical direct costs and indirect costs amounted to $7542.41±5789.10 (251313217.83 Rials), $498.59±813.33 (16613202.53 Rials) and $11902.74±8461.87 (396599494.56 Rials), respectively. There was a significant and negative correlation between direct medical costs, direct non-medical costs, indirect costs and age at diagnosis, and there was a significant and positive correlation between the length of hospital stay and medical direct cost. Conclusion: In this study, the estimated total mean cost of lung cancer was equivalent to times of GDP per capita per patient therefore; the cost of lung cancer is substantial. Indirect cost was considerably higher than direct cost. This indicates that some measures should be taken in order to preventive intervention and earlier diagnosis.