title: [Analysis of direct costs during the treatment of tuberculosis in childhood].
abstract: Incidence and prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) shows a decreasing tendency in Hungary. The medical care of these patients represents a substantial cost to the health services. We assessed the direct costs of paediatric patients with TB in a Hungarian hospital. Patients participating in the study were 9 children, with an average age of 11.17 +/- 6.34 years. In the study group there were two immigrant patients (22, 23%), two (22, 23%) had multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), five patients (62.5%) were contacts, six (66, 67%) had extrapulmonary tuberculosis and three (33, 34% suffered from other co-morbidities. The average direct cost of pulmonary TB was 2920 Euros, direct cost of MDR-TB was between 7300-9120 Euros. MDR-TB increases one and half times the period spent in hospital, two and half times the cost of inpatient care. Extrapulmonary TB with concomitant disease causes 3-7 times higher expenditures to the health service. According to our results we found significant differences between the cost of actual therapy and resources available; thus the compensation needs to be solved.
authors.affiliation: Semmelweis Egyetem, Egyetemi Gyógyszerüg Gyógyszerügyi Szervezési Intézet 1092 Budapest, Hogyes E. u. 7-9. rekabodnar@freemail.hu
authors.forename: Réka
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bodnár
authors.forename: Agnes
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mészáros
authors.forename: László
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kádár
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis / Q000191:economics; D018432:Drug Resistance, Multiple; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006295:Health Resources / Q000191:economics; D006296:Health Services / Q000191:economics; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy