The Cost of Acute Stroke Care and Associated Factors in Tertiary Hospitals Addis Ababa,Ethiopia.
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Date
2021-06
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Addis Abeba University
Abstract
Aim: Stroke is the commonest neurologic ward admission diagnosis in Ethiopia. It createssignificant economic burden on the health care system. The acute stroke care cost is a majorcomponent of the annual cost for stroke. In this study, we aimed to determine the total acutestroke care cost per patient admitted to a tertiary level government hospital in Addis Ababa,Ethiopia. And to identify components and predictors of the costs in order to better estimate theoverall cost of stroke.
Materials and methods: This prospective study was done in Tikur Anbesa specialized hospital andYekatit-12 hospital medical college on ward admitted patients between December 2020 andOctober 2021. All ward and ICU admitted stroke patients during the study period were enrolled.Direct and indirect costs from first stroke attack up to discharge were obtained. We used multiplelinear regression analysis to determine factors associated with hospital cost.
Results: A total of 118 stroke patients admitted to the study hospitals were enrolled and finalanalysis was performed on 99 patients. The mean acute stroke care cost per patient at the studyhospitals was 14616.5 birr (228.3USD), direct and indirect costs 10209.55 birr (214.4 USD) and 4514.6 birrs (94.8 USD) respectively. The average length of stay was 9.38 days. Multiple linearregression analysis of the natural log of the total acute stroke care cost showed variation in costswere largely attributable to: the length of hospital stays, ICU admission and rural residence.
Conclusions: Acute stroke care cost in Addis Ababa, government tertiary hospitals are lower than previous African studies. Direct medical cost contributes the majority of acute stroke care cost.Length of hospital stay and ICU admission were the cost driving factors.
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Developing country, Ethiopia, Direct cost, Acute stroke care cost.