Economic burden of pediatric asthmain Iran

Background: Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases all over the world, which impacts socioeconomics of families and health care systems. We aimed to investigate the economic burden of pediatric asthmain Iran and to examine its variability depending on asthma severity. Methods: In a descriptive-analytical study 141 pediatric asthmatic patients, who referred to pediatric referral centers in Tehran , included from September 2018 to September 2019 . in an interview with parents we evaluated direct medical costs of asthma including physician fees, admission fees, medication costs and direct nonmedical costs including transportation,hoteling and others. Data were statistically analyzed for finding association between the costs and disease severity (3 groups of mild, moderate and severe were defined) Result: 75 patients (65.8%) were male and 39 patients (34.2%) were female with the age range of 1-16 yr old were included. We found the mean annual cost per child was approximately 205 dollars . In this study, 83% of costs were related to direct medical costs, 69% of which were hospitalization costs Direct non-medical costs were estimate 17% including 51 %transportation costs and 49% hoteling costs. Also, 37% of the patients had severe disease severity, with the majority of the costs being allocated to the patients in this group Conclusion: Since there is a close correlation between the costs and the severity of the disease, there is also a significant increase in costs If the disease is not controlled, it can be concluded that early diagnosis and control of the disease can have a significant role in reducing costs.