Cost Analysis Of Hypertension Management In An Urban Primary Medical Centre Kuala Lumpur

ABSTRACT

Hypertension is one of the commonest health problems in Malaysia and its cases are on a rise. In conjunction with the above statement, it is predictable that the cost of healthcare services will further increase in the future. Therefore, cost study is necessary to estimate the health related economic burden of hypertension in Malaysia. A cross sectional study was carried out to quantify the direct treatment cost of hypertension. Three hundred and ninety one hypertensive patients’ data from Bandar Tasik Selatan Primary Medical Centre in year 2010 were collected and analysed. The direct treatment costs were calculated. The result showed that out of 391 hypertensive patients, 12.5% was diagnosed hypertensive without any co-morbidity, 25.3% with 1 co-morbidity dyslipidemia only; 4.3% with diabetes mellitus type 2 only; 0.5% with chronic kidney disease only and none with ischaemic heart disease. Patients with 2 co-morbidities (dyslipidemia and diabetes mellitus type 2) were 42.2%; with 3 co-morbidities (diabetes mellitus type 2, dyslipidemia and chronic kidney disease) was 4.3%. The mean cost of direct treatment of hypertension per visit/ year was RM289.42 ±196.71 with the breakdown costs for each component were medicines 72.2%, salary 14.6%, laboratory tests 5.0%, administration 4.4% and radiology tests 3.8%. Dyslipidemia is by far the commonest co-morbidity among hypertensive patients. Direct costs of treating hypertension are mostly dependent on present of co-morbidity and numbers of drugs used. Thus, the annual budget could be calculated precisely in the future especially for drugs.