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Estimation of the Direct Cost of Poliomyelitis Rehabilitation Treatment to Pakistani Patients: A 53-Year Retrospective Study

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Abstract

Background

Pakistan is one of the last few countries in which poliomyelitis is endemic. Evidence indicates that out-of-pocket expenditures are a barrier to polio rehabilitation treatment, yet there are no reported figures related to the financial burden of this disease on patients in a recently polio-endemic country.

Objective

This study investigated direct costs attributed to rehabilitation treatment of poliomyelitis among Pakistani patients and reported its duration along with the socioeconomic status of poliomyelitis survivors.

Conclusion

The cost of poliomyelitis rehabilitation in Pakistan is high; it has an economic effect on the lives of patients and their families. Despite good education, polio survivors in Pakistan appear to have low socioeconomic status, lower chances of employment and marriage, as well as fewer children. Further research is recommended to explore the burden of disease on society, i.e., indirect costs and suffering.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge and extend their gratitude to the Department of Physical Therapy, Clifton Central Hospital, and especially to Dr Muntazir Zaidi and Dr Zain Azhar for their guidance and for arranging meetings with rheumatologists and physical therapists in different cities in Pakistan. We would also like to thank the panel of experts for enlightening us with their advice at crucial stages. Finally, we would like to extend our profound gratitude to all of the patients in this study for providing their precious time and information to help our cause.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacy Practice, College of Clinical Pharmacy, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, 31441, Saudi Arabia

    Atta Abbas Naqvi

  2. Faculty of Pharmacy, Hamdard University, Madinatul Hikmah, Karachi, 74600, Pakistan

    Syed Baqir Shyum Naqvi & Sehrish Badar

  3. Applied Economics Research Centre, University of Karachi, Karachi, 75270, Pakistan

    Fatima Zehra

  4. Discipline of Social and Administrative Pharmacy, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Minden, 11800, Penang, Malaysia

    Ashutosh Kumar Verma

  5. Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Jinnah Sindh Medical University, Karachi, 75510, Pakistan

    Saman Usmani

  6. Natural Products and Alternative Medicines, College of Clinical Pharmacy, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, 31441, Saudi Arabia

    Rizwan Ahmad

  7. Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Clinical Pharmacy, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, 31441, Saudi Arabia

    Niyaz Ahmad

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  1. Atta Abbas Naqvi
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Contributions

AAN conceived the idea and refined it with SBSN. FZ and AKV provided advice on methodological aspects. The abstract and Introduction section were written by AAN, FZ, RA, and NA. The Methodology section was jointly written by AAN, FZ, and AKV. The data collection form was jointly designed by AAN, SBSN, SU, SB, RA, and NA. SU, SB, and RA obtained permission from hospitals, collected data from patients, and entered the data in SPSS® with assistance from NA. The results were analyzed by AAN, SBSN, and FZ and the Results section written by same authors. AAN and FZ wrote the Discussion and Conclusion section. AAN, FZ, and AKV carried out the revision of the manuscript based on reviewers’ comments.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Atta Abbas Naqvi.

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Funding

No funding was obtained for this study.

Conflict of interest

Atta Abbas Naqvi, Syed Baqir Shyum Naqvi, Fatima Zehra, Ashutosh Kumar Verma, Saman Usmani, Sehrish Badar, Rizwan Ahmad, and Niyaz Ahmad declare that no conflicts of interest exist.

Ethical approval

The study was approved by the Department of Physical Therapy, Clifton Central Hospital, Karachi 75600, Pakistan (CH/2015/186) and has been performed in accordance with the ethical standards of the Declaration of Helsinki.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Data availability statement

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 23 kb)

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Naqvi, A.A., Naqvi, S.B.S., Zehra, F. et al. Estimation of the Direct Cost of Poliomyelitis Rehabilitation Treatment to Pakistani Patients: A 53-Year Retrospective Study. Appl Health Econ Health Policy 16, 871–888 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40258-018-0422-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40258-018-0422-6

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