Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis): Cost of Treatment in Serbia and the Implications

Kostic, Marina, Djakovic, Ljiljan, Sujic, Rasa, Godman, Brian ORCID: 0000-0001-6539-6972 and Jankovic, Slobodan M (2017) Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis): Cost of Treatment in Serbia and the Implications. APPLIED HEALTH ECONOMICS AND HEALTH POLICY, 15 (1). pp. 85-93.

Text Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (Crohn´s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis): Cost of Treatment in Serbia and the Implications.pdf - Published version Download (490kB)

Abstract

<h4>Background</h4>Although the costs of treating inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in developed countries are well established, they remain largely unknown in countries with recent histories of socio-economic transition including Serbia.<h4>Objective</h4>To estimate the costs of treatment including the resources used by patients with IBD in Serbia from a societal perspective. This includes both Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.<h4>Methods</h4>This cost-of-illness study was conducted to identify direct, indirect and out-of-pocket costs of treating patients with IBD in Serbia. Patients with IBD (n = 112) completed a semi-structured questionnaire with data concerning their utilisation of heath-care resources and illness-related expenditures. All costs were calculated in Republic of Serbia dinars (RSD) at a 1-year level (2014) and subsequently converted to Euros. Median values and ranges were reported to avoid potential distortions associated with mean costs.<h4>Results</h4>Median total direct costs and total indirect costs per patient per year in patients with Crohn's disease were 192,614.32RSD (€1602.97) and 28,014.00RSD (€233.13) and 142,267.15RSD (€1183.97) and 21,436.00RSD (€178.39), respectively, in patients with ulcerative colitis. In both groups, the greatest component of direct costs was hospitalisation.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Costs of IBD in Serbia are lower than in more developed countries for two reasons. These include the fact that expensive biological therapy is currently under-utilised in Serbia and prices of health services are largely controlled by the State at a low level. The under-utilisation of biologicals may change with the advent of biosimilars at increasingly lower prices.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Humans, Colitis, Ulcerative, Crohn Disease, Adolescent, Adult, Middle Aged, Health Care Costs, Financing, Personal, Delivery of Health Care, Female, Male, Serbia, Young Adult, Surveys and Questionnaires
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	07 Jun 2017 15:40
Last Modified:	19 Jan 2023 07:03
DOI:	10.1007/s40258-016-0272-z
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3007853