The Direct Costs of Dravet's Syndrome before and after Diagnosis Assessment

ČESKÁ, Katarína, Lukas CESKY, Hana OŠLEJŠKOVÁ and Štefánia AULICKÁ. The Direct Costs of Dravet's Syndrome before and after Diagnosis Assessment. Neuropediatrics. STUTTGART: GEORG THIEME VERLAG KG, 2021, vol. 52, No 01, p. 6-11. ISSN 0174-304X. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1055/s-0040-1718518.

Basic information

• Original name: The Direct Costs of Dravet's Syndrome before and after Diagnosis Assessment
• Authors: ČESKÁ, Katarína (703 Slovakia, belonging to the institution), Lukas CESKY (703 Slovakia), Hana OŠLEJŠKOVÁ (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution) and Štefánia AULICKÁ (703 Slovakia, guarantor, belonging to the institution).
• Edition: Neuropediatrics, STUTTGART, GEORG THIEME VERLAG KG, 2021, 0174-304X.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Article in a journal
• Field of Study: 30103 Neurosciences
• Country of publisher: Germany
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• WWW: URL
• Impact factor: Impact factor: 1.696
• RIV identification code: RIV/00216224:14110/21:00120783
• Organization unit: Faculty of Medicine
• Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1055/s-0040-1718518
• UT WoS: 000578772900001
• Keywords in English: epilepsy; Dravet's syndrome; economic study; costs
• Tags: 14110320, 14110321, podil, rivok
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

The objective of this study was to estimate the direct cost before and after diagnosis assessment in patients with Dravet's syndrome (DS). The basis of the economic study was to calculate the costs of health care before and after diagnosis of DS. We retrospectively evaluated all SCN1A positive patients with phenotype of DS treated in our hospital. Statistical analyses were performed by IBM SPSS Statistics 24.0 software. After the diagnosis of DS, there was a significant decline of health care costs (-85.6%) an average of Euro29.4 +/- 26.1 monthly per patient. We estimated the monthly costs at Euro204.5 +/- 167 (median: Euro193.9, range: Euro35.5-534.4) per patient before DS diagnosis. The major cost was for hospitalization in neurological department: Euro43.3 +/- 52 (median: Euro21.9, range: Euro9.5-179.4) per patient. Minimal cost per patient per months before DS diagnosis was cost of psychological testing/care and complementary rehabilitation (0.13 and 0.6% of total cost). After DS diagnosis, the major cost was focused on nonhospitalization care of patients (64.8%), minimal (Euro0) for genetic testing and major for outpatient care (18%, mean: Euro5.3, median: Euro7). DS results in essential health care utilization and high financial burden before diagnosis elucidation caused by repeated hospitalization and extensive diagnostics tests of "epileptic encephalopathy of unknown etiology." The results of this study point out that early assessment of the diagnosis leads to significant decrease of the financial costs because of adequate therapeutic management and exclusion of redundant diagnostic testing after elucidation of correct diagnosis.