PIN27 Economic IMPACT of Use of Preventive 1000 MG/Day Vitamin C in FLU Season Depending on Markov a MODEL for Turkey

Abstract

Vitamin C could decrease the incidence of the common cold and the duration of symptoms if taken regularly in the flu season. This study aims to develop a Markov model to demonstrate the burden of absenteeism and presenteeism cases caused by preventable common cold and flu using 1000 mg/day Vitamin C vs doing nothing in Turkey. The models were conducted for understanding the possible loss of productivity of white-collar professionals and healthcare costs. employer spending per employee, healthcare usage, possible changes in seasonal flu episodes, length of flu episodes, productivity loss depending on absenteeism, and presenteeism have been retrieved from the literature search. The effect of 1000 mg/day Vitamin C on the workforce and possible healthcare was calculated depending on a Markov based model which was conducted for 6 months of flu season calculating as 6 cycles. According to the Markov model, the cost of 1000 mg/day Vitamin C arm including loss of efficiency and medical treatment was calculated as 3.529,00 TL and the cost of the doing nothing arm was calculated as 4.223,00 TL. The economic benefit of using 1000 mg/day Vitamin C on productivity and healthcare per flu season depending on the model has been calculated as 694,00 TL. A two-way Tornado Sensitivity Analysis has been conducted for the Markov model to understand the major and minor impact factors to calculation with 15% differentiation for both ways. It is seen that the major impact factor is episode number. It is followed by the costs of employees per day and the cost of medical treatment, respectively. According to the results of the Markov model, 1000 mg/day Vitamin C has been shown to provide economic benefits for productivity and healthcare costs.