title: Cost Burden of Severe Community-Acquired Rotavirus Gastroenteritis Requiring Hospitalization in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, and Hungary: A Retrospective Patient Chart Review.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To provide valuable local data on the economic burden of rotavirus gastroenteritis (RVGE) for decision making on introduction of rotavirus vaccination in Central European countries.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a retrospective patient hospital chart review during the winter RVGE peak in the Czech Republic (n = 109), Hungary (n = 109), Poland, (n = 112), and Slovakia (n = 115) to estimate resource use and associated costs from the payer's perspective in children younger than 5 years with severe RVGE requiring hospitalization. Microcosting analysis was used to estimate the average costs of treating RVGE inpatients including pre- and posthospitalization costs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average cost of treatment was €476, €316, €741, and €594 in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia, respectively. Extrapolating these costs to the total number of RVGE hospitalizations gives annual cost estimates of €2.1 million, €1.5 million, €13.2 million, and €1.5 million, respectively. The main component of expenditure in all the four countries is the hospital stay, but wide variation among countries was observed (total cost of treating RVGE in hospital was almost 2.5-fold higher in Poland than in Hungary). In countries with diagnosis related group (DRG) costs available, the best agreement between real resource-use-driven costs and the DRG cost was found in the Czech Republic and Hungary, with differences of only €22 and €33, respectively. In Poland, the microcosting indicated higher overall costs incurred in hospital than the DRG cost, with a difference exceeding €190.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Hospitalization of children with RVGE represents a substantial economic burden for the national health systems in these countries.
authors.affiliation: Kantar Health s.r.o., Prague, Czech Republic. Electronic address: ales.tichopad@kantarhealth.com.
authors.forename: Aleš
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tichopád
authors.affiliation: Kantar Health s.r.o., Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Juliana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Müllerová
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, the Center of Postgraduate Medical Education, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jackowska
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Clinical Center, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nemes
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology of Medical Faculty, Charles University, Pilsen, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Petr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pazdiora
authors.affiliation: GSK Vaccines, Wavre, Belgium.
authors.forename: Brigitte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sloesen
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Care, Alexander Dubček University of Trenčín, Trenčín, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Mária
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Štefkovičová
mesh_terms: D017281:Cost of Illness; D018153:Czech Republic; D005060:Europe; D005759:Gastroenteritis / Q000191:economics* / Q000628:therapy; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D006814:Hungary; D011044:Poland; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012401:Rotavirus; D012400:Rotavirus Infections / Q000191:economics* / Q000628:therapy; D018154:Slovakia
keywords: Visegrad region; chart review; cost burden; incidence; rotavirus gastroenteritis; vaccination