Date of Award

Winter 1-4-2020

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

PharmD

Department

Department of Pharmacy Practice

First Advisor

Dr. Vijayanarayana K

Abstract

Introduction and Aim: Pesticides and rodenticides have been useful for killing pests and rodents respectively but at the same time proven to be harmful to humans as well. They are easily available and accessible to the common people due to which they are often misused for self-harm predominantly in developing countries. There is a lot of burden on the healthcare system due to limited healthcare resources. This study aims to estimate the various costs incurred by the patients during the complete hospitalization period. Methodology: A prospective observational study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital. The patient related data was collected from the emergency ward and the details of in-patient bills was collected from the Finance Department of Kasturba Hospital, Manipal. Categorical data was presented as frequencies with percentages. Continuous data was presented as Geometric Mean ± Geometric SD. A logarithmic transformation was used to convert various cost variables into normal distribution. The data was then converted into anti-logarithmic form to reduce the standard deviation. Cost data was then summarized using geometric mean and geometric SD. The costs were compared with different treatment regimens and assessed against various factors and severity scales. In addition to this, the percentage cost variations between drugs were also calculated. Results: Analysis of 22 OP and 20 Zinc Phosphide poisoning cases showed that the total cost of treatment was ₹43,23,842.00 and ₹11,53,931.00 respectively. Factors like gender, alcoholism, smoking and intubation were found to be statistically significant with the total hospitalization charges. It was inferred that a high risk or an increase in severity of a case results in an increase in the total hospitalization cost. In this case, Injection Atropine (Icopin) showed the highest percentage cost variation (88.68%) followed by Injection Pralidoxime (Aldopam/Aquapam) (0.625%). 29 MAHEAbstract Conclusion: The treatment of OP and Zinc Phosphide poisoning was quite costly due to the high costs of the antidotes, drugs, biochemical investigations, ventilation, ICU stay and treatment of associated complications. The cost differences in brands of antidotes also affected the overall costs incurred by the patients. The cost of treating patients who were admitted with OP poisoning was higher than that for treating the ones who consumed Zinc Phosphide. Our study emphasized on the overall costs associated with the treatment of OP and Zinc Phosphide poisoning which included both direct and indirect costs. The monetary burden was found to be even more when the indirect costs were included. There is a lot of strain due to limited healthcare resources. All things considered, the economic burden of OP and Zinc Phosphide poisonings are extremely high

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