OBJECTIVES: Seasonal influenza is a global health problem with extensive impact on individuals, communities and healthcare systems. The aim of this research is to investigate the economic impact of influenza with regards to case management costs.

METHODS: Data of patients admitted over three influenza seasons between 3 October 2016 and 20 May 2019 to 6 hospitals across Türkiye were included in the analysis. Cases with ICD.10 codes J09 to J18 and who were prescribed oseltamivir were included. The analysis was performed using the Python programming language, which includes libraries such as NumPy, Pandas, Matplotlib and Seaborn. Pricing data for medicines was obtained from the ECONALiX database. The costs related to the health services used were obtained from Annex-2B of the Health Implementation Communiqué (SUT) published on December 12, 2023.

RESULTS: The cohort comprised 12,222 cases, 4924 (40%) of whom were inpatients and 52% were women. The average age was 54 years for women and 48 years for men. The average length of hospitalization was approximately 9 days and 89% of the cases revisited the hospital within ten days. The overall cost was 55,936,360.31 TRY, which includes the medication and health service utilization costs of 12,222 cases in the cohort during three-seasons period. Of this total, 18,389,289.34 TRY were spent on health services usage, while 37,547,070.97 TRY for medications. The median costs of medication, cost of health service use and total expenditure were 510.66, 104.31 and 620.59 TRY per episode, respectively. The median cost of treatment was relatively high in inhaler user group vs nonusers (2,870.20 vs 521.54 TRY) and the highest in the ≥66 years of age group.

CONCLUSIONS: The study findings indicate that the management costs associated with influenza in Türkiye are substantial, with medication expenses comprising most of the calculated costs. These findings underscore the financial burden associated with influenza management.