Abstract

This study aimed to conduct a pharmacoeconomic evaluation of the treatment of diabetic patients in a charitable hospital. A retrospective study was carried out for a period of 8 months from August 2016-March 2017. Patients admitted in general medicine with age above 18 years diagnosed with diabetes and on at least one antidiabetic medication. Patient’s data was collected by referring patient’s treatment charts and case notes, hospital billing system, medical record department and hospital pharmacy department. In this study, the direct medical cost was analysed. A total number of 212 diabetic patients were enrolled in the study of which 131 (61.8 %) were males, and 81 (38.2 %) were females. It was found that 67 % of patients had comorbid conditions and 33 % without any complications. One hundred and eleven (52.35 %) patients were prescribed a combination of insulin and oral hypoglycaemic agents, 66 (31.13 %) patients received insulin alone and 35 (16.50 %) patients received only oral hypoglycaemic agents. The annual median cost incurred for the management of diabetes with and without complications per patient was INR 14 959.60 and INR 8619.90, respectively. The study revealed that the costs for males with and without diabetes complications were INR 21 095 and INR 11 644.70, respectively. The corresponding figure for females was INR 12 030 and INR 8515. The cost incurred for nephropathy and peripheral circulatory co-morbidities was the highest (INR 53 795.50), whereas the cost for managing diabetes with nephropathy, neuropathy, retinopathy and peripheral circulatory comorbidities was INR 37 888.00. The study concluded that the cost of treatment could be drastically reduced by early identification and treatment of diabetes thereby preventing the development of diabetes-associated comorbidities.