Description:
Objective: To explore the financial cost of type 1 diabetic (T1D) children and adolescents during inpatient management for various reasons.
Method: Ten years of electronic hospital records (2009-2018) of the pediatric ward were screened retrospectively and hospitalizations with a confirmed diagnose of T1D were analyzed. Costs are grouped as laboratory tests, clinical interventions, drugs, medical supplies, and total costs before being converted to US dollars according to the mid-year index published by the Central Bank of Turkey. Descriptive statistics and comparisons against patient-specific characteristics are presented.
Results: There were 400 eligible cases. Cost per case for the hospital and for the Social Security Institution (SSI) were $268 and $309 respectively. The clinical intervention was the largest (49.84 vs 55.33 %) and that of medical supplies was the smallest (0.43 vs 0.55 %) component of the cost. Blood pH, HbA1c, having a single parent, and the number of days in the ward were parameters influencing total cost significantly (p