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Abstract

Abstract



Objectives: Asthma is a disease that causes significant health and economic burdens worldwide. The prevalence and incidence of asthma have been rising around the world over recent decades. The current study is to capture the direct medical costs of inpatient and outpatient asthma treatment for the period from 2013 to 2017.
Methods: This study was conducted at Military Hospital 175 in Vietnam. The study was performed from the patient and social insurance perspective, which means all types of costs were identified and measured based on patients' healthcare insurance. Cost analysis was measured using the medical records for estimating the economic burden of asthma. The study adopted descriptive statistics and bootstrap techniques to calculate asthma-related costs as well as analyze the background characteristics of asthma patients.
Results: The average outpatient and inpatient costs were US$64.90 and US$141.20, respectively, over the period from 2013 to 2017, for which out-of-pocket payments accounted for 10-12%. Medications, specifically asthma controller drugs, were the key driver leading to the substantial burden of direct medical costs for treating asthma. The cost burden was also significantly higher for adult patients compared to children.
Conclusions: Asthma continues to be a concerning problem in Vietnam. The economic impact of either preventive or promotive health interventions that can reduce the prevalence of asthma can be predicted from the statistics found in this research. Moreover, this data will help policymakers plan and allocate national expenditures for asthma treatment in a more rational way.
Keywords: Asthma; cost of illness; direct medical cost; military hospital; out-of-pocket payment; Vietnam.