Direct Medical Costs of Epilepsy in Hospital III Miguel Grau of EsSalud (Peruvian Social Security)

• Autor: Pérez Galdos, Proel
• Formato: artículo
• Fecha de Publicación: 2010
• Institución: Colegio Médico del Perú
• Repositorio: Acta Médica Peruana
• Lenguaje: español
• OAI Identifier: oai:ojs.pkp.sfu.ca:article/1462
• Enlace del recurso: https://amp.cmp.org.pe/index.php/AMP/article/view/1462
• Nivel de acceso: acceso abierto
• Materia: Costs and cost analysis; epilepsy; epileptic

Objectives: To determine direct costs of epilepsy in a population assigned to one hospital in Peruvian Social Security (EsSalud) during year 2006. To point out which group of epileptic patients generate more direct costs. Methodology: A retrospective study including 462 epilepsy patients was performed in order to estimate medical direct costs, considering the Sales Value = Retail price – 19% (Peruvian added value tax), obtained from the EsSalud rate lists; as well as prices for antiepileptic drugs (AED) (generics), which are the lowest within Peru. Descriptive and analytic statistics were used, as well as Chi square and Student’s t tests.   Results: Fifty three per cent patients were male, and their average age was 40.7 years (± 22.03 SD); 95.7% of epileptic episodes were generalized crises, 17.7% were refractory, the average number of hospital visits was 6.26 (± 3.16 SD), 9.1% patients were hospitalized, and the average hospital stay was 6.93 days (± 4.72 SD). Annual direct costs were 71,433.24 US Dollars, average direct costs for controlled epilepsy were USD 118.5 and for refractory epilepsy, the amount was 321.9 USD (p<0.0001).   Conclusion: Costs for specialized consultations (37%) and AEDs (34%) represented the greatest annual expenses, and the direct average cost was 154.61 USD/patient/year. Average costs for refractory epilepsy were three times higher than those for controlled epilepsy; and direct costs reported in this study are quite lower than those reported in industrialized countries and even in neighboring countries.