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Cost of acute cough in Italian children

OBJECTIVES: Acute cough is the most common symptom among children in primary care, but the economic impact of cough episodes has never been investigated in Italian families. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional telephone survey was conducted on a representative sample of Italian families, random...

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Autores principales: Negro, Roberto W Dal, Turco, Paola, Povero, Massimiliano
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Dove Medical Press 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6147201/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30271185
http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/CEOR.S167813
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author Negro, Roberto W Dal
Turco, Paola
Povero, Massimiliano
author_facet Negro, Roberto W Dal
Turco, Paola
Povero, Massimiliano
author_sort Negro, Roberto W Dal
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVES: Acute cough is the most common symptom among children in primary care, but the economic impact of cough episodes has never been investigated in Italian families. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional telephone survey was conducted on a representative sample of Italian families, randomly selected from general population. Collected data were analyzed to evaluate the economic impact of cough episodes according to, first, Italian Family Perspective and, second, National Health System Perspective (NHS-P). The costs considered in the analysis were the cost of drugs used (antibiotics, corticosteroids, antitussive drugs, and aerosol therapy) and the cost of child care during nursery/school absenteeism. RESULTS: Six hundred four valid questionnaires were analyzed: mean age of children is 7 years (SD=3.3) and that of parents is 40 years (SD=6.2). Mean rate of cough episodes was 3.15/year, and in general, they were short lasting (94.6%, <2 weeks). Nursery/school absenteeism was mostly <7 days (63.2%), but almost 30% of respondents declared 7–15 days. The respondents’ willingness to spend out-of-pocket for an “effective remedy” against cough was an average of €20 (>€30 in 19.7% of cases). The overall economic impact on Italian families was estimated as €1,204 (SD=€88); it resulted in a cost per cough episode equal to €337, mainly due to nursery/school absenteeism (94.6%), whereas pharmaceutical expenditure was marginal (5.4%). CONCLUSION: Cough episodes are acute (lasting <1 week, mainly) but frequent, causing a considerable socioeconomic impact. The pharmaceutical costs are in line with parents’ willingness to pay but these costs result negligible when compared to those related to school absenteeism, generally not perceived by parents.
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spelling pubmed-61472012018-09-28 Cost of acute cough in Italian children Negro, Roberto W Dal Turco, Paola Povero, Massimiliano Clinicoecon Outcomes Res Original Research OBJECTIVES: Acute cough is the most common symptom among children in primary care, but the economic impact of cough episodes has never been investigated in Italian families. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional telephone survey was conducted on a representative sample of Italian families, randomly selected from general population. Collected data were analyzed to evaluate the economic impact of cough episodes according to, first, Italian Family Perspective and, second, National Health System Perspective (NHS-P). The costs considered in the analysis were the cost of drugs used (antibiotics, corticosteroids, antitussive drugs, and aerosol therapy) and the cost of child care during nursery/school absenteeism. RESULTS: Six hundred four valid questionnaires were analyzed: mean age of children is 7 years (SD=3.3) and that of parents is 40 years (SD=6.2). Mean rate of cough episodes was 3.15/year, and in general, they were short lasting (94.6%, <2 weeks). Nursery/school absenteeism was mostly <7 days (63.2%), but almost 30% of respondents declared 7–15 days. The respondents’ willingness to spend out-of-pocket for an “effective remedy” against cough was an average of €20 (>€30 in 19.7% of cases). The overall economic impact on Italian families was estimated as €1,204 (SD=€88); it resulted in a cost per cough episode equal to €337, mainly due to nursery/school absenteeism (94.6%), whereas pharmaceutical expenditure was marginal (5.4%). CONCLUSION: Cough episodes are acute (lasting <1 week, mainly) but frequent, causing a considerable socioeconomic impact. The pharmaceutical costs are in line with parents’ willingness to pay but these costs result negligible when compared to those related to school absenteeism, generally not perceived by parents. Dove Medical Press 2018-09-17 /pmc/articles/PMC6147201/ /pubmed/30271185 http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/CEOR.S167813 Text en © 2018 Dal Negro et al. This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/). By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed.
spellingShingle Original Research
Negro, Roberto W Dal
Turco, Paola
Povero, Massimiliano
Cost of acute cough in Italian children
title Cost of acute cough in Italian children
title_full Cost of acute cough in Italian children
title_fullStr Cost of acute cough in Italian children
title_full_unstemmed Cost of acute cough in Italian children
title_short Cost of acute cough in Italian children
title_sort cost of acute cough in italian children
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6147201/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30271185
http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/CEOR.S167813
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