COST OF ILLNESS OF TRAUMATIC HEAD INJURY PATIENTS AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS AT EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT IN UNIVERSITY OF GONDAR REFERRAL HOSPITAL NORTHWEST, ETHIOPIA, 2017 .

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: Traumatic head injury (THI) continues to be a significant public health problem in the world. Head injuries account for about half of the 1.3 million annual deaths worldwide, leading to great personal suffering and cost to society. Objective: This study aimed to assess cost of illness of traumatic head injury(THI) and associated factors at emergency department (ED) in University of Gondar Referral Hospital. Method: Institution based cross sectional study was conducted from March to May 2017.The data was collected using structured questionnaire by interviews administered method among head injury patients. Systematic sampling technique was used. Direct costs (diagnosis, treatment, transportation, food, length of stay and indirect costs (loss of income) was summed using bottom-up approach. Before ED and at ED treatment expense data were collected separately. Data were entered into Epi-Info version 7 and transferred to SPSS version and imported to SPSS version 20 for analysis. The cost of illness was presented in a descriptive statistic using frequency, mean and standard deviation using linear regression model. A p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Result: The mean total cost of treatment per patient was 4673.43 ETB from patient side. The largest cost category was direct non-medical costs (40.57%) followed by indirect cost (35.85%) and direct medical (23.58%) costs respectively . The sum cost of 1,808,621 ETB or (US$78126.18) with average length of stay(2.6days) in acute case. The result suggests that the cost of treating head injury victims varies by several factors like length of stay (p= 0.001, CI 95%(1081-1591)), transportation access (p= 0.008, CI(159-1033)), severity level (p= 0.000, CI(3579-3945)) and number of caregivers (p= 0.013, CI (79-815)). Conclusion: The finding from the study indicated that mean cost of treating head injury high and substantial. Most of the expense is transportation cost from injury site to hospital and most victims are productive age groups. It is important to develop prevention programs and immidiate interventions by control measures and secondly, prevention strategies to reduce the incidence of injury. ? Keywords :traumatic head injury, cost of head injury. University of Gondar Referral Hospital, Ethiopia.