Abstract
ObjectivesTo estimate the cost of six different techniques used to treat Genital Warts and the annual average cost of treating a typical GW patient in Peru. To estimate the annual economic burden diagnosing and treating GW in the Peruvian public healthcare system.MethodsWe developed a prevalence-based, cost-of-illness study from the provider’s perspective, the healthcare facilities under the purview of Peruvian Ministry of Health. We used an activity-based costing approach. We conducted primary data collection in three regions in Peru and supplemented it with governmental data. Uncertainty of the costing estimates was assessed via Monte Carlo simulations. We estimated the average cost and associated confidence intervals for six treatment options – three topical and three surgical – and the overall cost per patient.ResultsThe average treatment cost per patient was 59.9USD (95 %CI 45.5, 77.6). Given a population of 18.4 million adults between 18 and 60 years of age and a GW prevalence of 2.28 %, the annual cost of treating GW was 25.1 million USD (uncertainty interval 16.9, 36.6).ConclusionsThis study provides the first quantification of the economic burden of treating genital warts in Peru and one of the few in Latin America. The costing data did not include other healthcare providers or out-of-pocket expenditures, and hence we present a conservative estimate of the COI of GW in Peru. Our findings bring attention to the financial burden of treating GW, a vaccine-preventable disease.
Highlights
Genital warts (GW) are the most common viral sexually transmitted infection (STI) globally [1]
We used an activitybased technique to estimate the cost of diagnosis and each treatment option from the provider’s perspective, the facilities under the purview of the Peruvian Ministry of Health (MoH)
The application of our instruments followed best-practices for data collection [48] and we are confident on the accuracy of our results within its limitations. To our knowledge, this is the first study that analyzes the economic burden of GW in Peru, and one of the few in Latin America
Summary
Genital warts (GW) are the most common viral sexually transmitted infection (STI) globally [1]. They are manifestations of anogenital human papillomavirus (HPV). Data related to the incidence and prevalence of GW varied significantly within countries [1]. The only study that has estimated the prevalence of GW in Peru was conducted by García et al [6]. The authors conducted a survey among 100 physicians from public facilities to quantify the frequency of GW cases detected, as well as diagnosis practices and patients’ characteristics. The prevalence of GW among all Peruvian adults between 18 and 60 years of age was estimated in 2.28 % (95 % Confidence Interval (CI) 2.02, 2.56). Among males the prevalence was 5.25 % (95 %CI 4.46, 6.13) and among females was 1.35 % (95 %CI 1.13, 1.61) [6]
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