Abstract
Objectives: To determine the cost burden of Neuroimaging and its contribution to direct total hospitalization costs (HCs) during one-time admission for first-ever stroke.
Methods: The clinical characteristics, direct itemised costs and total HCs for 170 consecutive patients with first-ever stroke, admitted at our public tertiary health facility over a 15-month period were evaluated.
Results: The records of 170 stroke subjects were reviewed. The median total HCs for one-time admission per stroke patient was $183.30 with a median daily cost of $15.86. Median cost of radiological investigations was the highest among the categorized hospital costs. Among the radiological investigations, neuroimaging accounted for at least 99% of cost to patients.
Conclusion: The financial burden of radiological investigations, particularly neuroimaging, is high during one-time admission of patients with first-ever stroke in our environment.
Footnotes
Disclosure. Authors have no conflict of interests, and the work was not supported or funded by any drug company.
- Received August 27, 2017.
- Accepted February 14, 2018.
- Copyright: © Neurosciences
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