Economic burden of dengue in four major cities of Pakistan during 2011.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the economic burden of dengue infection by calculating cost per patient and disability adjusted life years lost. METHODS: The cross-sectional study was conducted in Islamabad, Lahore, Faisalabad and Karachi from July 2012 to March 2013. Residential addresses and telephonic numbers of dengue patients were taken from the records of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad, Mayo and Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore, Civil Hospital, Karachi, and Allied Hospital, Faisalabad. A total of 250 dengue confirmed cases - 50 from each hospital - were randomly selected. Information regarding duration of illness and out-of-pocket expenses were collected to estimate the direct cost, while indirect cost (number of work days missed by the patient) was calculated from disability adjusted life years using Murray's formula. RESULTS: Overall, there were 162(65%) men and 88(35%) with a mean age of 30.4±13.5years. More than half 138(55%) were below 30 years of age. Socio-economically, 145(58%) belonged to low, 70(28%) middle and 35(14%) to high socioeconomic groups. Of the total, 210(84%) cases had dengue fever followed by 32(12.8%) dengue haemorrhagic fever and 8(3.2%) dengue shock syndrome cases. Average duration of illness was 32±7.1 days. Overall direct cost per patient was Rs.35,823 (US$358) and average pre-hospitalisation, hospitalisation and post-hospitalisation was Rs.6154, Rs.21,242 and Rs.8,427 respectively. The overall disability adjusted life years per million population was 133.76. CONCLUSIONS: Although the government had provided free treatment for dengue in public-sector hospitals, still patients had to pay Rs.21,242 during hospital stay, resulting in substantial burden which needs to be addressed.