Estimated costs for treatment and prophylaxis of newborn vitamin K deficiency bleeding in Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Vitamin K deficiency bleeding (VKDB) is a preventable cause of infant mortality and long-term morbidity through the world. This study aimed to demonstrate the costs of VKDB treatment estimated from the hospital records in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, as well as the prophylaxis costs for mass vitamin K medication. Subjects were 50 patients with no operation and 50 patients who had received a brain operation, consecutively enrolled from 180 cases diagnosed at Republican Research Center of Emergency Medicine in 2014. In that year, an additional 22 VKDB patients were found in Tashkent; the incidence of VKDB was 478/100,000 among 42,225 newborns. The prophylaxis costs for all newborns in Tashkent were estimated under a plausible condition. The average age at admission was 43.2 days among 100 patients (67 boys and 33 girls) with birth weight from 2,600 g to 3,800 g (3,105 g on average). The great majority of patients (92.0%) were breastfed; 89.5% in boys and 97.0% in girls. Average treatment cost per VKDB patient was 365 USD for the operated and 285 USD for the non-operated. Total expenses of the 202 patients were estimated to be 64,603 USD. A single prophylaxis was estimated to cost 1.24 USD, totaling 52,359 USD for the prophylaxis of 42,225 newborns. Since the reduction of VKDB incidence through prophylaxis is considered to be higher than 78.5% (52,359/64,603), provision of prophylaxis services would reduce the total costs of VKDB treatment in Uzbekistan, where prophylaxis is not provided.