Cost of illness in patients with COVID-19 admitted in three Brazilian public hospitals

Oliveira, L. A. et al. (2023) Cost of illness in patients with COVID-19 admitted in three Brazilian public hospitals. Value in Health Regional Issues, 36, pp. 34-43. (doi: 10.1016/j.vhri.2023.02.004) (PMID:37019065) (PMCID:PMC10069823)

Abstract

Objectives The severity and transmissibility of COVID-19 justifies the need to identify the factors associated with its cost of illness (CoI). This study aimed to identify CoI, cost predictors, and cost drivers in the management of patients with COVID-19 from hospital and Brazil’s Public Health System (SUS) perspectives. Methods This is a multicenter study that evaluated the CoI in patients diagnosed of COVID-19 who reached hospital discharge or died before being discharged between March and September 2020. Sociodemographic, clinical, and hospitalization data were collected to characterize and identify predictors of costs per patients and cost drivers per admission. Results A total of 1084 patients were included in the study. For hospital perspective, being overweight or obese, being between 65 and 74 years old, or being male showed an increased cost of 58.4%, 42.9%, and 42.5%, respectively. From SUS perspective, the same predictors of cost per patient increase were identified. The median cost per admission was estimated at US$359.78 and US$1385.80 for the SUS and hospital perspectives, respectively. In addition, patients who stayed between 1 and 4 days in the intensive care unit (ICU) had 60.9% higher costs than non-ICU patients; these costs significantly increased with the length of stay (LoS). The main cost driver was the ICU-LoS and COVID-19 ICU daily for hospital and SUS perspectives, respectively. Conclusions The predictors of increased cost per patient at admission identified were overweight or obesity, advanced age, and male sex, and the main cost driver identified was the ICU-LoS. Time-driven activity-based costing studies, considering outpatient, inpatient, and long COVID-19, are needed to optimize our understanding about cost of COVID-19.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This study was partially funded by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (CAPES, Financial Code 001), Conselho Nacional para o Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq, n. 07/2020, process 308923 / 2020-0), and Unesp-reitoria (PIBIC reitoria 2020-2021).
• Keywords: COVID-19, cost of illness, cost Analysis, hospital costs, hospital care.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Venson, Dr Rafael
• Authors: Oliveira, L. A., Lucchetta, R. C., Mendes, A. M., Bonetti, A. d. F., Xavier, C. S., Sanches, A. C. C., Borba, H. H. L., Oliota, A. F. R., Rossignoli, P., Mastroianni, P. d. C., Venson, R., Virtuoso, S., de Nadai, T. R., and Wiens, A.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Medicine, Dentistry & Nursing
• Journal Name: Value in Health Regional Issues
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 2212-1099
• ISSN (Online): 2212-1102
• Published Online: 03 April 2023
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 International Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research
• First Published: First published in Value in Health Regional Issues 36: 34-43
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy