Analysis of direct costs of hypertension treatment among adolescents in Poland.

In adolescents, arterial hypertension (AH) is diagnosed much more frequently than previously thought--it affects 3.2% of the population aged 11-18. In Poland, at present, there are no cost analyses of treatment arterial hypertension among adolescents. The aim of the conducted studies was to analyze direct medical and non-medical costs in the time horizon of one calendar year (2010) of AH treatment in adolescents in Poland. A retrospective study from the societal perspective was based on data from 480 patients medical history cards obtained from the archives of the hospital. From this group, according to the criteria for inclusion in the study, a research group was selected consisting of 36 patients aged 16-18 years, with a diagnosed and treated hypertension. Analysis covered direct medical costs (costs of pharmacotherapy, doctors' visits and laboratory tests, hospitalization) and direct non-medical costs (cost of transport to the outpatient clinic). Average annual cost of hypertension treatment per patient was 89.96 Euro. The largest part of the structure of total costs related with hypertension treatment in adolescents in Poland were the costs of medical consultation with lab tests and diagnostic examinations--35.04% and pharmacotherapy costs--32.95%, with hospital stays rating somewhat lower with 19.12%, and the smallest part were the costs of the patient's transportation to the hypertension outpatient clinic--12.89%. Early identification of risk factors of such cardiovascular diseases as hypertension as early as in the developmental age, and their subsequent elimination, should be considered a good investment in the reduction of costs associated with hypertension treatment in adulthood.