Economic Impact on Health-Care Costs Related to Major Diseases Including HIV/AIDS due to Alcohol Drinking among Thai Populations

• Published in: Value in health Vol. 12; no. s3; pp. S97 - S100
• Main Authors: Neramitpitagkul, Prapag, BScPharm, MSc, Lertpitakpong, Chanida, BSc, MA, Yothasamut, Jomkwan, BA, MA, Thavorncharoensap, Montarat, BScPharm, PhD, Chaikledkaew, Usa, BScPharm, MA, PhD, Teerawattananon, Yot, MD, PhD
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Malden, USA Elsevier Inc 01.11.2009; Blackwell Publishing Inc
• Subjects: Accidents, Traffic - economics; alcohol; Alcohol consumption; Alcohol Drinking - economics; Alcoholism - economics; Epilepsy - economics; Female; Health Care Costs; Health costs; health-care cost; HIV; HIV Infections - economics; Hospitalization; Hospitalization - economics; Humans; Internal Medicine; Male; Outpatient departments; Public health; Thailand; Thailand; alcohol; Thailand; health-care cost
• ISSN: 1098-3015; 1524-4733
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1524-4733.2009.00638.x

ABSTRACT Objective The objective of this study was to estimate health-care costs because of diseases caused by alcohol consumption based on health system's perspective. Methods Total direct health-care costs of alcohol drinking were the summation of the costs of alcohol drinking in inpatient and outpatient departments due to chronic diseases and acute conditions using prevalence-based approach. The alcohol-attributable fractions, defined as the proportion of a disease or acute condition in a population attributable to alcohol drinking, were calculated to obtain the number of patients in each disease or acute condition attributable to alcohol drinking. Health-care costs of alcohol drinking were estimated by multiplying the number of patients in each disease category attributable to alcohol drinking with the unit cost of treatment. Results Total health-care costs attributed to alcohol in this research were 5491 million baht (i.e., outpatient department [2488 million baht] and inpatient department [3003 million baht]). Cost derived from inpatient department accounted for 55% of the total health-care cost attributed to alcohol. Conclusions The result of this study suggested that alcohol drinking was significantly associated with a large number of health-care costs in Thailand. Estimation of health-care costs related to alcohol drinking would provide an important insight into future policy appraisal and evaluation.