Economic burden of asthma in Abu Dhabi: a retrospective study

Abstract

This study evaluates the direct costs of treating asthma in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. Data was compiled for 2011 from health insurance claims covering all medical interventions or treatments coded as asthma. Costs were calculated from a health care perspective. The total direct cost of treating 139,092 asthma patients was estimated to be United Arab Emirates Dirhams (AED) 105 million (US$29 million), corresponding to around AED 750 per patient per annum. The total cost is principally generated by outpatient visits (>AED 85 million; 81% of the total cost). Ten point four percent of patients had made an emergency room visit. The cost per visit seems to be higher during hospital admissions (AED 7,123) compared to outpatient visits and emergency room visits. The direct cost of asthma medications was around AED 33 million (31% of the total cost). The economic burden of asthma in Abu Dhabi is high and the number of emergency visits suggests that the disease is not optimally controlled.

Evaluating quantity and quality of literature focusing on health economics and pharmacoeconomics in Gulf Cooperation Council countries

“…The majority of studies (n= 34) were published in international journals 14,[17][18][19]21,24,25,[27][28][29][30][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][45][46][47][48][50][51][52][53][54][57][58][59][60][61] and the remaining 15 studies were published in journals based in G.C.C. countries.…”

“…25,27,35,60 ; these included Canada, 25 USA , 27 UK 35 and Poland. 60 The primary author in 40 of the included studies (81.6%) had a medical or clinical background [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][26][27][28][29][30][32][33][34][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47]49,51,53,[55][56][57][58][59]61 , compared with 4 studies were the primary background was health economics 48,52,60,…”

“…Thirty four studies were national, 14,15,[18][19][20][21][22][23][24]26,[29][30][31][32][33][34][38][39][40][41][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][59][60][61][62] 9 studies were sub-national (where they covered cities of interest in a country) 16,28,36,42,44,50,[56][57][58] and 6 studies were multinational. 17,25,27,35,37,43 Eighteen of the studies published were based on data from Saudi Arabia, …”

“…Thirty-four studies stated they did not receive any funding to conduct the research [14][15][16][17][19][20][21][22][23][26][27][28][30][31][32][33]36,[38][39][40][44][45][46]50,51,53,[55][56][57][58][59]62 Six studies were funded by government organizations, 18,24,34,35,37,41 6 studies were funded by the pharmaceutical industry 25,29,42,47,60,61 and 3 studies were funded by non-profit organizations. 48,52,54…”

Patterns of prescribing and utilization of asthma medications in a tertiary hospital in Dubai, United Arab Emirates

“…The direct cost of treating asthma in Abu Dhabi was estimated to be about 105 million AED a year, with 31 % cost spent on medications only [7].…”