Abstract
Purpose: :
To assess the major direct costs of glaucoma treatment for patients with primary angle closure glaucoma patients over 10 years.
Methods: :
The charts of a total of 86 patients with primary angle closure glaucoma (PACG) who had 10-years of follow-up were reviewed for relevant clinical and treatment utilization data. 56 of these patients were diagnosed with bilateral PACG. Glaucoma treatment included medications, lasers and surgeries. Year-on-year change in the consumer price index was used to standardize all costs to 2009 values.
Results: :
All patients were of Chinese ethnicity and their mean (±SD) age was 60.29 years (±8.6 yrs). 56.9% of them were female. The mean direct total cost of glaucoma treatment, which includes surgery, medications and lasers, per patient over 10 years was Singapore dollars (SGD) S$11,244.85 (± S$3496.4) or US$8769.52 (±US$2726.74). The median cost was SGD 11,137.19 (US$8685.56), with a range of SGD 2648.10 to SGD 19,577.44 (US$2065.17 to US$15267.86). The mean direct cost of glaucoma treatment with glaucoma medications alone per patient over 10 years was SGD 2042.47 (± 2078.54) or US$1592.86 (±1620.99), while the mean cost of surgery was SGD 8038.75 (± 2829.4) or US$6269.18 (± 2206.56) and laser was SGD 1163.63 (± 532.9) or US$907.48 (± 415.59).
Conclusions: :
PACG is a chronic and costly disease which requires long term treatment. Practitioners need to be cognizant of the possible long-term high costs of glaucoma treatment.
Keywords: clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: health care delivery/economics/manpower