Treatment Cost Along With Pattern of Disease and Therapy in the Intensive Care Unit of a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital in India

TL;DR

This study analyzed drug use and treatment costs in an Indian ICU, finding high antibiotic use and significant financial burden.

Contribution

The study provides empirical data on ICU drug utilization patterns and costs in a tertiary hospital in India.

Findings

Antibiotics were the most frequently prescribed drugs, with beta-lactams and carbapenems being the most common.

The median cost of ICU treatment was INR 23,347, highlighting the high economic burden on patients.

Ceftriaxone was the most utilized antibiotic with 16 DDD/100 bed-days.

Abstract

Background

The intensive care unit (ICU) represents an important platform for conducting drug utilization analysis using defined daily dose (DDD)/100 bed-days and the financial burden of treatment as patients are seriously ill and are often suffering from chronic critical illnesses. Therefore, in this study, we evaluated the drug utilization patterns and cost of treatment in the ICU.

Methods

A retrospective observational analysis of the medical records obtained for the medical ICU of an apex tertiary care teaching hospital in central India was conducted for a period of three years from 2017 to 2019. All the patients admitted to the medical ICU during the study tenure were included in the study. Patients hospitalized in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), and surgical ICU were excluded from the study. The socio-demographic and clinical data, utilization of different classes of drugs, WHO-Anatomic Therapeutic Chemical (WHO-ATC) classification, DDD/100 bed days, hospital stay, etc. were analyzed. A partial pharmaco-economic analysis of the average cost of admission to patients was done.

Results

Data from 280 patients was assessed. The mean age was 47 ± 19.18 years and 58% were males. Antibiotics and injections were prescribed to 96% and 97.5% of the patients, respectively, during their ICU stay (median: seven days). Antimicrobial drugs were most frequently prescribed (n=1096, 68%); the most common were beta-lactams and carbapenems, followed by drugs acting on the central nervous system (5%) and cardiovascular system (4.3%). Cefoperazone/sulbactum, ceftriaxone, and piperacillin/tazobactam were the most utilized antibiotics with 8, 16, and 6 DDD/100 bed-days, respectively, while proton pump inhibitors, analgesics, and anti-epileptics were the most frequently prescribed non-antimicrobial drug class. The median cost of treatment per ICU admission was Indian Rupees (INR) 23,347 (IQR 12,552- 65,524).

Conclusion

Drug utilization assessment provides crucial information for understanding the usage of drugs in the settings of the ICU, and should be conducted regularly to help in the proper planning and implementation of rational drug use. Treatment costs reflect the high economic burden seen in ICU admissions.

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