# Direct medical cost of adult Covid-19 ınpatients and ıts determinants at a university hospital

## TL;DR

This study calculates the direct medical costs of adult patients hospitalized with Covid-19 at a university hospital and identifies factors that increase these costs.

## Contribution

The study provides a detailed cost analysis of adult inpatients with Covid-19 and identifies key determinants of increased medical costs.

## Key findings

- The median cost per hospitalized adult Covid-19 case was approximately 263.55 USD.
- Longer hospitalization, chronic disease, and oxygen therapy significantly increased medical costs.
- The study highlights the economic burden of treating hospitalized Covid-19 patients.

## Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the direct medical costs of adult cases diagnosed with Covid-19 and hospitalized at Karadeniz Technical University Faculty of Medicine Farabi Hospital (KTUFMFH).

This is a cost of illness study. The direct medical costs of adult cases who were hospitalized and treated for Covid-19 at KTUFMFH between 13.03.2020-12.03.2021 were examined. The study was retrospectively, on hospital perspective, using a prevalence-based approach and a bottom-up costing method. Per case costs, distribution of costs, and factors were examined for 113 cases. The determinants of the costs were evaluated via logistic regression analysis.

The median cost per case was 263.55 (min: 28.30 – max: 18,947.60) USD [229.55 (min: 23.90 – max: 15,633.67) EUR]. One-day increase in hospitalization (O.R. = 2.600 and %95 C.I. = 1.576-4.289), the presence of chronic disease (O.R. = 15.130 and %95 C.I. = 1.644-139.216) and receiving oxygen inhalation therapy (O.R. = 15.238 and %95 C.I. = 1.784-130.157) have been identified to increase medical cost of Covid-19 inpatients.

Covid-19 hospital costs are of significant economic burden. The actions in order to lower the severity of the disease may play role to lower the medical costs in future coronavirus related pandemics.