Economic burden of diabetic foot ulcer: a case of Iran.

BACKGROUND: Diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) is known as a serious complication of diabetes mellitus in patients with diabetes, imposing heavy medical costs on healthcare systems due to its chronic nature. patients with severe diabetic foot ulcer are often disabled to work, and some of them may even die, leading to associated productivity losses. Since no previous study has investigated the economic burden of DFU in Iran, this study is to estimate the economic burden of diabetic foot disease in Iran. METHODS: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, randomly selected samples consisted of 542 patients with DFU, hospitalized in the hospitals of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. The demographic profile and cost data used in this analysis were derived from a researcher-designed checklist. Lost productivity was calculated based on Human Capital Approach, and the total economic cost of DFU was determined using patient-level data on costs and prevalence data from the global burden of diseases reports. All analyses were performed using SPSS software (Version 23), and Microsoft Excel (Version 19). RESULTS: The economic burden of DFU in Iran in two scenarios of discounting future costs and not discounting them was about $8.7 billion and $35 billion, respectively (about 0.59 and 2.41% of GDP). 79.25% of the estimated costs in this study were indirect costs and productivity losses, of which 99.34% (7,918.4 million Dollars) were productivity losses due to premature death. 20.75% (2,064.4 million dollars) of the estimated costs in this study were direct costs. The average length of stay (LOS) was 8.10 days (SD = 9.32), and 73.3% of patients recovered and were discharged after hospitalization and 7.6% died. The majority of the costs are imposed on the age group of 60-69 year (53.42% of the productivity lost due to hospital length of stay, 58.91% of the productivity lost due to premature death & 40.41% of direct costs). CONCLUSIONS: DFU represents a heavy burden to patients, Iran's health system, and the economy. Early prevention strategies need to be prioritized in making public health policies. These policies and decisions can be in the area of changing lifestyle, health education, changing people's behavior, and encouraging physical activity that targeted high-risk populations in order to reduce the prevalence of diabetic foot and resulting substantial economic burden.

Direct medical cost and cost analysis of COVID-19 in Iran: A multicenter cross-sectional study.

Background: Although our daily life and economics were severely affected by COVID-19, cost analysis of the disease has not been conducted in Iran. Hence, we aimed to perform a cost analysis study and then estimate direct medical costs of COVID-19. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed in Tehran and recorded medical files from March 1, 2020, to September 1, 2020, were examined. A predefined electronic form was developed and all required variables were included. All people whose both first and final diagnoses were COVID-19 positive and were admitted in governmental hospitals were considered for inclusion. Using stratified random sampling method, 400 medical records were evaluated to gather all data. STATA 14 was used for data analysis. Results: We evaluated 400 medical records and the age of patients ranged from 22 to 71 years. The mean cost of COVID-19 was 1434 USD. Of 400 patients, 129 of them had underlying disease and statistical significance was observed in people who had underlying diseases than people who did not have underlying disease. Conclusion: Beds and medications were the most important factors that added to the costs. COVID-19 has undoubtedly imposed a high financial burden on the health system. It is highly recommended that patients with positive test result be strictly encouraged to stay at home and adhere to safety protocols.