Economic Burden Of Acute Myocardial Infarction In Vietnam

Abstract

Objectives: Vietnam spends 6% of its GDP to health care. In context of insufficient evidence on quantifying the economic burden of cardiovascular disease in Vietnam, we conducted a study on the costs of Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI). Costs were identified from the perspective of the health care payers, including health insurance providers and patients. Methods: Data was extracted from the database of a regional hospital in Vietnam. All patients with the single code I21 according to the International Clarification of Disease 10 were included in the study. Costs were calculated in year 2013. Out-of-pockets payment was quantified as the net of health insurance (HI) reimbursement and actual payments. Results: 89 patient-hospitalizations were included in the study, including 34 cases requiring percutaneous coronary intervention and 55 cases requiring medicine only. Mean costs of AMI were US$ 2,503 (+/-3,377) per hospitalization. Costs per hospitalization were higher in the group requiring percutaneous coronary intervention than in the group requiring medicine only at US$5,962 (+/- 3,197) and US$365 (+/- 401), respectively. Out-of-pocket payments were approximately 60% of these costs. Generally, cost of AMI per hospitalization in Vietnam was higher than GDP per capita (US$ 1,900). Conclusions: Our results indicate that MI prevention is needed to reduce the burden of disease as well as to avoid catastrophic expenditure and impoverishment problemsin Vietnam. Our results also comprise essential building blocks for important variables in a future cost-effectiveness modeling exercise on cardiovascular prevention.