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Abstract #6585 Published in IGR 3-2
Costs of medical and surgical treatment of glaucoma
Calissendorff BMActa Ophthalmologica Scandinavica 2001; 79: 286-288
PURPOSE: To compare county costs of the medical and surgical treatment of glaucoma. METHODS: The medical records of 470 patients who underwent trabeculectomy in 1992 were scrutinized for a period of three years before and three years after surgery (including the year of surgery). Treatment costs were based on DRG prices, and drug consumption costs on the defined daily dose (DDD). RESULTS: The costs rose steadily during the three years before surgery, on account of most frequent visits and examinations and increased drug consumption. Mean total cost in the preoperative period was SEK 13,355, and that in the corresponding postoperative period, including surgery, SEK 23,684. The number of visits post-surgery was only slightly reduced, but there was a marked decrease in medication. However, the costs of the drugs was not correspondingly lower. Thirty percent of the patients later underwent cataract extraction. CONCLUSION: From a strictly economic point of view, glaucoma surgery is not profitable within a three-year postoperative period.
Dr B.M. Calissendorff, Department of Ophthalmology, St Erik's Eye Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
Classification:
14 Costing studies; pharmacoeconomics
