Cost evaluation of corneal ulcer treatment

Abstract

Background: Corneal ulcer is a common disease. To find the costs of corneal ulcer treatment would help plan the treatment strategy. Objective: To evaluate the cost of treatment for corneal ulcers. Material and Method: Age, gender, type of payment, causative organism, hospitalization days, and cost of treatment of hospitalized patients with clinically diagnosed corneal ulcer presenting between January 2011 and April 2012 was collected. Results: Fifty-three patients were analyzed. The median cost (interquartile range) was 20,699.0 (11,379.0-56,981.0) Thai Baht. The median cost (interquartile range) for the fungal group, bacterial group, and unknown organisms was 70,040.0 (34,697.0-112,118), 17,881.5 (10,555.3-31,100.8), and 15,015.3 (9,542.3-46,866.6) Thai Baht respectively. Cost of treatment for fungal group was statistically significantly higher than for the unknown organisms and bacterial groups (p<0.05). Conclusion: The expense of corneal ulcer treatment is high and fungal infection treatment tends to be the most expensive.