El costo esperado de cáncer en Chile / The expected cost of cancer in Chile

BACKGROUND: Cancer is a public health priority in Chile. AIM: To estimate the expected annual cost of cancer in Chile, due to direct costs of health services, working allowances and indirect costs for productivity losses. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We undertook an ascendent costing methodology to calculate direct costs. We built diagnostic, treatment and follow-up cost baskets for each cancer type. Further, we estimated the expenditure due to sick leave subsidies. Both estimates were performed either for the public or private sector. Costs related to productivity loss were estimated using the human capital approach, incorporating disease related absenteeism premature deaths. The time frame for all estimates was one year. RESULTS: The annual expected costs attributed to cancer was $1,557 billion of Chilean pesos. The health services expected annual costs were $1,436 billion, 67% of which are spent on five cancer groups (digestive, hematologic, respiratory, breast and urinary tract). The expected costs of sick leave subsidies and productivity loss were $48 and $71 billion, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Cancer generates costs to the health system, which obliges health planners to allocate a significant proportion of the health budget to this disease. The expected costs estimated in this study are equivalent to 8.9% of all health expenditures and 0.69% of the Gross Domestic Product. This study provides an updated reference for future research, such as those aimed at evaluating the current health policies in cancer.

Eficacia del manejo conservador de las fracturas de calles en los pacientes en el Hospital Escuela Dr. Roberto Calderón G

Se realizó un estudio descriptivo y prospectivo con el objetivo de determinar algunos factores que puedan intervenir y provocar la inadecuada evolución de las fracturas de calles que deja secuela de orden inmediata y mediata. El estudio se realizó a los pacientes que asistieron a sala de Emergencia del Hospital Escuela Dr. Roberto Calderón, durante el período de junio a septiembre de 1999 y que fueron transferido a consulta externa con diagnóstico de fractura de calles. Los pacientes estudiados fueron 52 que asistieron a consulta externa del servicio de Ortopedía y Traumatología con diagnóstico de Fractura de Calles, y a los que se les dió seguimiento durante 7 meses desde su primera evaluación en consulta externa hasta su alta con un mes de fisioterapía