Increased burden of disease and role of health economics: Asia-pacific region

ABSTRACT

Background: Health-care systems in Asian countries are diverse. The economic evaluation provides information on how to make efficient use of the resources available to obtain the maximum benefits. In Asia, diseases such as cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), diabetes mellitus (DM), tuberculosis (TB) and epilepsy generate a heavy economic burden. The objective of this article is to provide a review of the economic burden of health to patients in Asian countries.

Areas covered: All data were collected from already published research article and review papers. The databases searched were Science Direct, PubMed, MEDLINE and Google scholar. We found a total of 4456 articles on health economics. After reviewing the title, only 876 relevant articles were considered. Only 92 (n = 92) articles were considered on the basis of inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Expert opinion: Available data give evidence that diseases are linked to the low socio-economic status of the Asian population. The cost per capita is high in Asian countries due to insufficient health-care facilities. The cost per capita in Asian countries ranges from $23 (Pakistan) to $1775 (Taiwan). The per capita cost of Malaysia, China, Singapore, and Thailand is $27 $83, $75, and $27, respectively.

KEYWORDS:

• Health economics
• cardiovascular diseases
• diabetes mellitus
• tuberculosis
• epilepsy

Article Highlights

• The cost of health care is measured in terms of direct and indirect costs.

• The cost per capita in Asian countries ranges from $23 (in Pakistan) to $1775 (in Taiwan).

• About half of the cardiovascular burden is associated with the Asian-pacific region. In south Asia, the total social per capita of CVDs was $5,666-$32,927.

• Environmental factors and junk food increased the risk of DM. Pakistan spends 12% and Sri Lanka and Malaysia spend 16% of the health budget on managing DM. The cost of DM per capita per year ranges from $520 in Nepal to $1068 in India.

• In most Asian studies, the average cost of TB per patient ranges from $104 to $301.

Seventy-five percent of people with epilepsy live in developing countries and have limited or no access to anti-epileptic drugs. The cost of epilepsy treatment in China was $773, but in India, it varies by study.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer Disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

The paper was not funded.