Direct Costs of Acute Exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder in Hospital Inpatient Setting: A Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction:
This study aimed to estimate the direct costs of acute exacerbations of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (AECOPD) in cases which required inpatient hospital admissions. The direct costs estimated were pharmaceutical costs, consumable costs and laboratory investigation costs.
Methods:
A cross-sectional study was carried out at medical wards of Sri Aman Hospital over three months. Study subjects were recruited using a convenience sampling method. All information and data of pharmaceuticals, consumables and laboratory investigations during patients’ admissions were recorded in data collection forms.
Results:
A total of 66 patients involving 70 admissions were included. For each admission of AECOPD, the laboratory investigations constituted the highest costs with median costs of RM154.00, followed by pharmaceutical costs for the treatment of AECOPD (RM127.50), pharmaceutical costs for the treatment of comorbidities (RM72.22) and consumable costs (RM16.80). Notably, pharmaceutical costs contributed the most of the total costs (55.90%) over the study period, followed by laboratory investigation costs (39.30%) and consumable costs (4.70%).
Conclusion:
Different types of direct costs were incurred to treat patients with AECOPD in the inpatient setting of Sri Aman Hospital. Pharmaceutical costs were the major cost driver, followed by the laboratory investigations and consumables. Pharmacists are recommended to enforce Patient Own Medications (POM) more extensively to minimise the highly burdening pharmaceutical costs.