title: Asthma Economic Costs in Adult Asthmatic Patients in Tehran, Iran.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  High prevalence and increasing rate of asthmatic patients around the word witnesses the high burden of asthma. We have limited data on asthma burden and economic costs in Iran. This study aimed to find direct and indirect economic costs of asthma and their association with some background factors in one of the referral tertiary centers for adult patients with asthma.
  
  
  METHODS
  We surveyed asthma related economic costs of 197 adult patients who referred to Milad Hospital, Tehran, Iran from Jun 2007 to January 2010. The patients were followed up for a period of one-year ±1 month and asthma related costs and its control status were registered.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients were consisted of 125 (64.1%) females and 70 (35.9%) males. Total cost of asthma was 590.22 ±32.18 USD for one patient per one year, the cost of drug, paraclinic, doctor visit, hospitalization, emergency, transportation, and absent days were 327.02, 4.76, 35.44, 3.82, 0.26, 113.03, 105.89 USD respectively. Men showed a significant elevation in their total (P=0.009) and drug costs (P=0.028). In addition, we found significant differences between total asthma costs and asthma control status (P=0.002).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  According to the high proportion of asthma, related cost compare to Total Income of an Iranian family, the necessity of public coverage of health assurance is quite clear. We suggest that improving asthma management and accessibility to specialized treatment centers can result in decreasing asthma medication and transportation costs as major direct and indirect asthma related costs.
authors.affiliation: Immunology, Asthma and Allergy Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Laleh
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sharifi
authors.affiliation: Immunology, Asthma and Allergy Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Zahra
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Pourpak
authors.affiliation: Immunology, Asthma and Allergy Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Reza
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Fazlollahi
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Epidemiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Saied
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bokaie
authors.affiliation: Department of Lung Diseases, Milad Hospital, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Hamid Reza
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Moezzi
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Biostatistics, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Anoushirvan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kazemnejad
authors.affiliation: Immunology, Asthma and Allergy Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mostafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moin
keywords: Asthma; Direct cost; Indirect cost; Iran