title: Economic Burden of Thalassemia Major in Iran, 2015.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Major Thalassemia is an autosomal recessive disease with complications, mortality and serious pathology. Today, the life expectancy of patients with major thalassemia has increased along with therapeutic advances. Therefore, they need lifelong care, and caring for them would incur many costs. Being aware of the patients' costs can be effective for controlling and managing the costs and providing efficient treatments for the care of patients. Hence, this study was conducted to estimate the economic burden of the patients with major thalassemia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Totally, 198 patients with major thalassemia were randomly selected from among the patients with major thalassemia in Tehran, Iran in 2015. The economic burden of the patients was estimated from a social perspective and through a bottom-up, prevalence-based approach.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average annual cost per patient was estimated $ 8321.8 regardless of the cost of lost welfare. Of this amount, $ 7286.8 was related to direct medical costs, $ 461.4 to direct non-medical costs, and $ 573.5 to indirect costs. In addition, the annual cost per patient was estimated $ 1360.5 due to the distress caused by the disease CONCLUSIONS: Considering the high costs of the treatment of patients with major thalassemia, adopting new policies to reduce the costs that patients have to pay seems necessary. In addition, making new decisions regarding thalassemia screening, even with higher costs than the usual screening costs, can be useful since the costs of treatment are high.
authors.affiliation: PhD Candidate of Health Economics, Department of Health Economics & Management, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. firooz.esmaeilzadeh@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Firooz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Esmaeilzadeh
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Hematology Oncology, Transfusion Research Center, High Institute for Research and Education in Transfusion Medicine, Department of Thalassemia Clinic, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Azita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Azarkeivan
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Management & Economics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Emamgholipour
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Management & Economics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Akbari Sari
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Congenital Hematologic Disorders Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yaseri
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Management & Economics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Batoul
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ahmadi
authors.affiliation: Environmental and Occupational Hazards Control Research Center, School of Public Health, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohtasham
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ghaffari
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D017281:Cost of Illness; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs; D005102:Health Expenditures; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007492:Iran; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult; D017086:beta-Thalassemia / Q000191:economics* / Q000628:therapy
keywords: Cost of Illness; Health Care Costs; Iran; beta-Thalassemia Major