Abstract

Background Non-communicable diseases impose a large social, economic and health burden. Hypertension, one of the non-communicable diseases, is the leading contributor to the global burden of disease and a growing public health problem worldwide. In Ethiopia, empirical evidence on the economic burden of hypertension is few.  encompass

Objective This study aimed to identify the cost of hypertension and associated factors at the University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital northwest Ethiopia, 2018.

Methods Retrospective prevalence based cost of hypertension study was conducted on 442 adult hypertensive patients. Direct cost (direct medical and nonmedical cost) and indirect costs were obtained from a semistructured questionnaire. Human capital approach was used to calculate the indirect cost. Socioeconomic status was computed by principal component analysis. Generalized linear model was fitted to identify factors that had association with the cost of hypertension at a 95% confidence level and p-value <0.05.

Findings A total of 442 patients, female 56.3%, stage one hypertension 64.3% with the median duration of disease 4 (5) years, were included. The total annual mean cost of hypertension was ETB 2510.32 ($91.72) ± 2152.80 (78.65) per patient per year. The direct medical cost and direct non-medical cost comprised 60.81% and 12.17%, respectively of the total annual cost of hypertensio. From the direct medical cost, medication cost was higher and it accounted 58.34% of the direct medical cost. Being hospitalized (exp(b)=1.87, p<0.001), using multidrug (exp(b)=1.32, p<0.000), high Socioeconomic status (exp(b)=1.41,p<0.000 ), collage and above education level (exp(b)= 1.35, p<0.016 ), government employee (exp(b)= 1.30, p<0.012 ), retired (exp(b)= 0.71, p< 0.001) and having co-morbidity (exp(b)= 1.20,p<0.004) were variables significantly associated with cost of hypertension.

Conclusion The total annual cost of hypertension is high, and direct medical cost has the highest component of the total cost of illness. Hospitalization, using multidrug, having co-morbidity, collage and above education level, being on the highest socioeconomic status and government-employee were significantly associated with an increased cost of illness. This study tries to show the burdens of hypertension on patients. Prevention and early detection of complications and co-morbidity are essential to reduce hospitalization and related treatment to reduce the direct medical cost and indirect cost. Moreover, hypertension is a preventable disease; we can avoid these burdens on the individual.