Abstract
Objective: The average per person direct cost of illness of cardiorespiratory disease episodes was estimated based on a prospective study of emergency department visits.
Methods: Economic modelling of health care costs using prospectively collected resource utilization data (9/1/94 to 8/31/95) from hospital emergency department visitors assigned a diagnosis of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), respiratory infections or cardiac conditions.
Results: The total direct costs (1997 CDN$) [95% C.I.] per patient were $1,043.55 [$922.65, $1,164.47] for asthma, $1,690.11 [$1,276.92, $2,103.30] for COPD, $676.50 [$574.46, $778.54] for respiratory infections, and $3,318.74 [$2,937.72, $3,699.76] for cardiac conditions.
Conclusions: This study showed that on average, patients diagnosed with a cardiac condition had the highest total direct cost. Hospitalization cost was the largest component of costs for all diagnoses except asthma, for which medications were the single largest component of direct costs.
Résumé
Objectif: Le coût direct moyen par personne des épisodes de maladies cardiorespiratoires a été évalué en fonction d’une étude prospective des visites au service des urgences.
Méthodes: Établissement de modèles économiques des coûts relatifs aux soins médicaux d’après des données sur l’utilisation des ressources recueillies prospectivement (du 1er septembre 1994 au 31 août 1995) de services des urgences d’hôpitaux au sujet de patients ayant les diagnostics suivants: asthme, bronchopneumopathie chronique obstructive (BCO), infections respiratoires ou maladies cardiaques.
Résultats: Les coûts directs totaux ($CAN 1997) [IC de 95 % ] par patient étaient de 1 043,55 $ [922,65 $, 1 164,47 $] pour l’asthme, de 1 690,11 $ [1 276,92 $, 2 103,30 $] pour les cas de BCO, de 676,50 $ [574,46 $, 778,54 $] pour les infections respiratoires, et de 3 318,74 $ [2 937,72 $, 3 699,76 $] pour les maladies cardiaques.
Conclusions: Cette étude montre qu’en moyenne, les coûts directs totaux sont plus élevés pour les patients atteints d’une maladie cardiaque. Les coûts d’hospitalisation représentaient la principale part des coûts directs pour tous les diagnostics à l’exception de l’asthme où le coût des médicaments était le plus important.
Footnotes
This study was funded by the Environmental Health Directorate, Health Canada.
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