Pharmacoeconomic Analysis of Medicines Used for Bronchial Asthma in Children in Kazakhstan

TL;DR

This study evaluates the cost-effectiveness of asthma treatments in children in Kazakhstan, finding that younger children have more cost-effective treatment regimens.

Contribution

The paper introduces a pharmacoeconomic analysis of asthma treatments in Kazakhstani children, highlighting age-specific cost-effectiveness differences.

Findings

The cost-effectiveness ratio (CER) for mild asthma was 0.077 in 6–8-year-olds and 0.171 in 9–12-year-olds.

Moderate asthma treatment had CERs of 0.27 and 0.35 for the younger and older age groups, respectively.

The most cost-effective treatment was observed in children aged 6–8 years across all asthma severities.

Abstract

This study aimed to calculate a pharmacoeconomic indicator, specifically the cost-effectiveness coefficient, for treating paediatric bronchial asthma with combined regimens of bronchodilators and inhaled corticosteroids.

This study involves 54 children aged 6 to 12 years, who were divided into 6 groups depending on the age and severity of bronchial asthma. Treatment effectiveness is calculated by subtracting the percentage difference between exacerbation frequency and the number of patients. The calculation of pharmacoeconomic data was conducted using the cost-effectiveness ratio (CER).

For the treatment of mild bronchial asthma, the drug Berodual is used for inhalation through a nebuliser, moderate therapy is conducted using a combination of Flixotide and Salbutamol, and severe is stopped by a combination of Symbicort and Salbutamol. From the results obtained, notably, the CER for mild severity was 0.077 for children aged 6–8 years and 0.171 for the age group 9–12 years; for moderate severity, the CER values were 0.27 for the group 6–8 years and 0.35 for the category 9–12 years; severe asthma had the following indicators: 0.506 and 0.798 for groups aged 6–8 and 9–12, respectively.

This study’s results indicate that the most cost-effective treatment regimen is in the age groups of 6–8 years. However, the calculation of drug dosages directly depends on the patient’s age and the severity of the disease. Further actions in scientific works should be directed to conducting empirical, statistical studies in the field of pharmacoeconomics of bronchial asthma among children from the standpoint of the state.

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