DIRECT AND INDIRECT COSTS OF SEVERE UNCONTROLLED ASTHMA IN THE BRAZILIAN PUBLIC PERSPECTIVE
Author(s)
Campos DF1, Rosim RP1, Ballalai Ferraz AF1, Camillo AL2, Oliveira TM2, Penha MF2, Matsuo AL2
1QuintilesIMS, São Paulo, Brazil, 2AstraZeneca, Cotia, Brazil
OBJECTIVES: The study aims to assess the direct costs of uncontrolled severe asthma from the Brazilian public payer perspective and its indirect costs from a societal perspective. METHODS: We used Brazilian public claim databases (DataSUS) in order to identify patients with severe uncontrolled asthma and assess their direct costs. Through a record linkage methodology, we identified patients with records in both hospital and ambulatory databases. Patients were screened according to the following criteria: long-acting beta agonist associated with high dose inhaled corticosteroids and at least two hospitalizations within a six-month period. Resource utilization was calculated and resource costs were obtained from the official Brazilian procedure table (SIGTAP). Resource utilization that could not be identified through database analysis were obtained through literature review. Total population treated by the Brazilian healthcare system was estimated based on DataSUS databases, Saúde Não Tem Preço reports (another government program for pharmaceutical assistance) and literature reporting proportion of severe uncontrolled patients within asthma population. Indirect costs were calculated using the human capital approach: data on work absenteeism was found at scientific literature and premature deaths were obtained through the Brazilian mortality information system. Per capita gross domestic product was reported by the Brazilian official statistics and demographics agency (IBGE). RESULTS: We screened 577 unique patients with an average daily consumption of 2,121 micrograms of budesonide and 57 micrograms of formoterol, and the hospitalization rate was 2.65 per patient-year. The calculated total direct costs incurred by the total severe uncontrolled population in Brazil was BRL 24.8 million, of which, 78% are due to hospitalizations and 17% due to drug dispensation CONCLUSIONS: Despite relatively low direct costs, severe uncontrolled asthma is a disabling and life-threatening disease, responsible for substantial indirect costs.
Conference/Value in Health Info
2017-05, ISPOR 2017, Boston, MA, USA
Value in Health, Vol. 20, No. 5 (May 2017)
Code
PRS16
Topic
Economic Evaluation
Topic Subcategory
Cost/Cost of Illness/Resource Use Studies
Disease
Respiratory-Related Disorders