Hospitalization costs associated with diarrhea among children during the period of rotavirus circulation in the Northwest region of Argentina

• Published in: Archivos argentinos de pediatría Vol. 115; no. 6; pp. 527 - 532
• Main Authors: Giglio, Norberto D, Caruso, Martín, Castellano, Vanesa E, Choque, Liliana, Sandoval, Silvia, Micone, Paula, Gentile, Ángela
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Argentina 01.12.2017
• Subjects: Argentina; Cost of Illness; Cross-Sectional Studies; Dehydration - economics; Dehydration - virology; Diarrhea - economics; Diarrhea - virology; Direct Service Costs; Female; Financing, Personal - economics; Hospitalization - economics; Humans; Infant; Male; Rotavirus; Rotavirus Infections - economics; Rotavirus Infections - virology; personal finance; Childhood diarrhea; rotavirus; health expenditure
• ISSN: 0325-0075; 1668-3501
• DOI: 10.5546/AAP.2017.ENG.527

To assess direct medical costs, outof-pocket expenses, and indirect costs in cases of hospitalizations for acute diarrhea among children <5 years of age at Hospital de Niños "Héctor Quintana" in the province of Jujuy during the period of rotavirus circulation in the Northwest region of Argentina. Cross-sectional study on diseaserelated costs. All children <5 years of age, hospitalized with the diagnosis of acute diarrhea and dehydration during the period of rotavirus circulation between May 1st and October 31st of 2013, were included. The assessment of direct medical costs was done by reviewing medical records whereas out-of-pocket expenses and indirect costs were determined using a survey. For the 95% confidence interval of the average cost per patient, a probabilistic bootstrapping analysis of 10 000 simulations by resampling was done. One hundred and five patients were enrolled. Their average age was 18 months (standard deviation: 12); 62 (59%) were boys. The average direct medical cost, out-of-pocket expense, and lost income per case was ARS 3413.6 (2856.35-3970.93) (USD 577.59), ARS 134.92 (85.95-213.57) (USD 22.82), and ARS 301 (223.28-380.02) (USD 50.93), respectively. The total cost per hospitalization event was ARS 3849.52 (3298-4402.25) (USD 651.35). The total cost per hospitalization event was within what is expected for Latin America. Costs are broken down into direct medical costs (significant share), compared to out-of-pocket expenses (3.5%) and indirect costs (7.8%).