The costs of asthma disease on the healthcare system

Abstract

Asthma is a lung disease characterized by coughing, episodic wheezing and shortness of breath resulting from airway inflammation and hypersensitivity. It is thought that both the incidence and prevalence of asthma increase depending on the increase in lifestyle and environmental risk factors. In this study, we aimed to analyze the cost of patients with asthma in our country and to consider the reasons that increase the cost of asthma. The data of 100 patients (fifty female and fifty male) followed up with a diagnosis of asthma were analyzed in this study. The mean total cost of antibiotics was 1278.157±3645.403. The mean hospital costs of the patients were 2623.022±7519.284 and the mean intensive care unit (ICU) cost of the asthmatic patients in the ICU was 9557.877±114371.217. Statistically significant relations were detected between length of stay in hospital and total hospital cost (THC) (P=0.000), length of stay in the ICU and THC (p=0.000), length of stay in the service and THC (p=0.011), antibiotic use and THC (p= 0.018) and total cost of ICU stay and THC. Asthma affects people at various levels and causes significant costs on governments. Effective management of the disease can be achieved by eliminating and preventing both internal and external factors causing the disease and improving asthma education. [Med-Science 2022; 11(1.000): 184-8]

Keywords

• asthma
• burden of asthma
• hospital cost