Costs of asthma treatment in Estonia

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to describe the distribution of the direct costs of asthma in Estonia by the type of treatment received and to differentiate the costs by age of patients. METHODS: Data were obtained from the databases of national health insurance offices. Persons who had been in a hospital or visited a doctor because of asthma and who also purchased anti-asthmatic drugs during 1997 were identified. The bills of all direct costs of health insurance for each asthma patient could thus be summarised. The data on all purchases of drugs were used to follow the patterns of drug treatment of asthma. RESULTS: The mean annual treatment costs of one asthma patient were 118 EUR. The costs of hospital care accounted for 27%, costs of ambulatory care for 20% and costs of pharmacotherapy for 53% of all treatment costs. Beta-agonists and corticosteroids for inhalation accounted for more than 80% of prescriptions and 90% of pharmacotherapy costs in patients under 45 years. The users of oral corticosteroids had twice as high per capita annual asthma treatment costs as compared to non-users. CONCLUSIONS: The frequency of out-patient visits, hospital admissions, number of prescriptions, total costs and costs of pharmaceuticals increased in parallel with age. The total estimated direct costs of asthma diagnosis and treatment during 1997, as extrapolated from the study population, were 2.1 million EUR, and accounted for 1.4% of direct health care costs in Estonia.