The Estimation of Direct Medical Costs of Treating Patients With Chronic Hepatitis B and C in Iran

Background: the objective of this study is to estimate the averagediagnosis and treatment costs of chronic hepatitis b and c, withrespect to different therapeutic strategies in iran.methods: this is a descriptive, analytical, and cross?sectional studycarried out on patients with hepatitis b and c, who were referred tothe liver disease research center for prevention and treatment ofhepatitis, isfahan university of medical sciences, in 2011. we haveestimated the direct medical costs including doctors’ fees, cost ofpara?clinical tests, medical treatments, and liver biopsy, in differenttreatment strategies.findings: the results of this study showed that the total cost ofdiagnostic services for hepatitis b virus (hbv) and hepatitis cvirus (hcv) patients, with state medical tariffs, was us$ 1499.07and us$ 2084.89, respectively. the patients’ profiles showedthat there were currently seven therapeutic strategies available totreat hbv patients. the total cost of treatment strategies variedsignificantly from us$ 73 to us$ 8256. there were also four mainstrategies for hcv patients, each of these could be applied intwo periods of time. the total cost of these treatment strategiesshowed a high disc repancy from us$ 242 t o us$ 8256.conclusion: the results confirmed that the total direct medicalcost for an hbv patient in iran exceeded us$ 5.5 milliard in2011. the results implied that the market price of direct medicalcost of hbv and hcv patients in iran is much higher than theestimated state costs. these costs would likely be saved or reducedby effective disease management and early prevention.