Table 2.

Unitary costs of health care resources for base case analysis

	COPD		Asthma
	Unitary cost (€)	Source	Unitary cost (€)	Source
Hospital admissions	1,600.00	DRG 88: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease13	1,832.00	DRG 97: bronchitis and asthma age >17 years without cc13
Emergency department visits	344.26	Ministry of Health: Mattoni SSN Project: Emergency Room and 118 System:14 acute pulmonary condition	344.26	Ministry of Health: Mattoni SSN Project: Emergency Room and 118 System.14 IRDRG 235380: acute pulmonary condition
Antimicrobial coursesa	13.04	bPublic price per pack: levofloxacin: 500 mg/day 10 days; pack 5 tabs 500 mg €6.25 or ciprofloxacin: pack 6 tabs 500 mg, 500 mg BID 7 days €6.79	13.04	bPublic price per pack: levofloxacin: 500 mg/day 10 days; pack 5 tabs 500 mg €6.25 or ciprofloxacin: 6 tabs 500 mg, 500 mg BID 7 days €6.79
Corticosteroid coursesa	6.68	bPublic price per pack: prednisone: pack 25 mg 10 tabs €5.10 followed by pack 5 mg 10 tabs €1.58	5.34	bPublic price per pack: prednisone: pack 25 mg 10 tabs €5.10 followed by pack 5 mg 10 tabs €1.58 or methylprednisolone pack 40 mg 1 vial/day €4

Note:

^aFor drugs, average values of the most widely used drugs were used to estimate the cost per course of treatment.

^bItalian Medicines Agency. Tranparency List: All public prices for drugs, except for methylprednisolone. Rome: Italian Medicines Agency; 2015. Available from: http://www.agenziafarmaco.gov.it/sites/default/files/Elenco_farmaci_equivalenti_Principio_attivo_15.05.2015.pdf. Merhylprednisolone public price is available at Farmadati which is a database containing all the information about the medicines for human or veterinary use registered in Italy, equivalent medicines, homeopathic and parapharmaceutical products; available from: http://www.farmadati.it.

Abbreviations: BID, twice a day; cc, comorbilities and complications; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; DRG, Diagnosis Related Group; IRDRG, International-Refined Diagnosis Related Group.