Costs of drugs used after renal transplantation

Transplant International : Official Journal of the European Society for Organ Transplantation
L B HilbrandsR A Koene

Abstract

There are no detailed data on the relative contributions to overall health care costs of the various drugs that are commonly used in renal transplant patients. We performed a cost analysis in 122 patients, using the medical records and our hospital administration service as data sources, for all health care-related costs during the first year after renal transplantation. During the first 3 months all patients were on cyclosporine (CsA) and prednisone. Subsequently, they were randomly allocated to CsA monotherapy or to conversion from CsA to azathioprine. Cost of drugs comprised about 25% of total health care expenses. In CsA-treated patients, the following costs per patient per year were calculated: CsA, DFL 9929 (1 DFL is about US$0.60; 67.5% of total drug costs); antilymphocyte agents, DFL 2613 (17.8%); other immunosuppressive drugs, DFL 455 (3.1%); antimicrobial agents, DFL 687 (4.7%); antihypertensive drugs, DFL 467 (3.2%); remaining drugs, DFL 554 (3.8%). Conversion from CsA to azathioprine resulted in a decrease in mean drug costs for the remainder of the first posttransplant year of DFL 4597 (P < 0.01). Although the incidence of acute rejections tended to be higher after steroid withdrawal than after conversion (39% vers...Continue Reading

Citations

Mar 8, 2000·International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics·L M ChenD Haraf
Jan 6, 2009·Transplant International : Official Journal of the European Society for Organ Transplantation·Jan LerutPierre Gianello

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Antihypertensive Agents: Mechanisms of Action

Antihypertensive drugs are used to treat hypertension (high blood pressure) which aims to prevent the complications of high blood pressure, such as stroke and myocardial infarction. Discover the latest research on antihypertensive drugs and their mechanism of action here.