Annual Antibiotic Related Economic Burden of Healthcare Associated Infections; a Cross-Sectional Population Based Study.

So far, too little attention has been paid to total burden of healthcare associated infections (HAIs) in Iran. In the present study, we aimed to assess the rate of HAIs, as well as economic burden of hospitalization and antibiotic related cost associated with HAIs in ICU at training Taleghani hospital in Iran and to compare our results with national nosocomial infections surveillance (NNIS) system. This research to date for the first time has tended to focus on the economic burden of HAIs rather than epidemiology of HAIs evaluation. The total of 474 patients was followed up in this study. Overall, the rate of HAIs was 19.2 % in which ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) was dominant HAIs and followed by urinary tract infection (UTI). Importantly, mortality rate increased significantly in infected patients. The highest total hospitalization economic burden and antibiotic related cost were observed for patients having blood stream infection (BSI). The results demonstrated significant differences between antibiotic related cost in patients and uninfected patients. Antibiotic related absolute extra cost for HAIs was 2.09 PPP$ per day. Estimation of direct annually HAIs associated economic burden of antibiotic and Total hospitalization was 433,382.4 PPP$ and 705,024 PPP$ respectively in Iran at intensive care unit (ICU). The most obvious findings were a strong relationship between relatively heavy antibiotic related financial burden, higher mortality rate, longer hospitalization time, and HAIs emergence on the Iranian national health system. It also reflects, more fundamentally a shift toward the need for comprehensive thinking about HAIs at ICU ward from Iran's hospitals. On the question of the research found that: With the implementation of policies and strategies to reduce hospital infections, which will benefit; Patient, Society, and/or national health system?!

Direct medical care costs associated with patients diagnosed with chronic HCV.

BACKGROUND: HCV virus (HCV) is a significant global problem with wide-ranging socio-economic impacts. Because of the high morbidity and mortality associated with end-stage liver disease, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the economic burden of HCV infection is substantial. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to estimate the direct medical care costs of chronic HCV infection. PATIENTS AND METHODS: For this cross-sectional study, 365 courses of HCV treatment were extracted from medical records of 284 patients being referred to Tehran HCV clinic, a clinical clinic of Baqiyatallah Research Center for Gastroenterology and Liver diseases, from 2005 to 2010. All the patients had been diagnosed with HCV. Direct medical care costs for each course of HCV treatment have been calculated based on Purchasing Power Parity Dollar (PPP$). RESULTS: Average direct medical costs for the courses treated with conventional interferon plus ribavirin (INF-RBV) were 4,403 PPP$, and 20,010 PPP$ for peg-interferon plus ribavirin (PEG-RBV) courses. There was an increase of the direct costs in both courses of treatment to achieve Sustain Viral Response (SVR). The costs amounted to 10,072 PPP$ in (INF-RBV) treatment and 34,035 PPP$ in (PEG-RBV). The significant difference between the costs of these two courses of treatment is attributable to high cost of Peg-interferon. This indicates that the medication costs are the dominant costs. CONCLUSIONS: According to the results, total direct medical costs for HCV patients in Iran exceeded 12 billion PPP$ in (INF-RBV) treatment and 55 billion PPP$ in (PEG-RBV).