Health economic burden of COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia

  1. Khalidah A. Alenzi
  2. Hamdan S. Al-malky
  3. Ali F. Altebainawi
  4. Hamidah Q. Abushomi
  5. Fahad O. Alatawi
  6. Moosa H. Atwadi
  7. Moosa A. Khobrani
  8. Dlal A. Almazrou
  9. Nariman Alrubeh
  10. Zainab A. Alsoliabi
  11. Abdulaziz M. Kardam
  12. Shakr A. Alghamdi
  13. Abdulrahman Alasiri
  14. Maher H. Albalwi
  15. Thamir M. Alshammari

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Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has added a massive economic burden on health care systems worldwide. Saudi Arabia is one of the numerous countries that have been economically affected by this pandemic. The objective of this study was to provide real-world data on the health economic burden of COVID-19 on the Saudi health sector and assess the direct medical costs associated with the management of COVID-19.

Methods

A retrospective cohort study was conducted based on data collected from patients hospitalized with COVID-19 across 10 institutions in eight different regions in Saudi Arabia. The study calculated the direct medical costs of all cases during the study period by using SAS statistical analysis software. These costs included costs directly related to medical services, such as the health care treatment, hospital stays, laboratory investigations, treatment, outcome, and other related care.

Results

A total of 5,286 adult patients admitted with COVID-19 during the study period were included in the study. The average age of the patients was 54 years, and the majority were male (79%). Among the COVID-19 patients hospitalized in a general ward, the median hospital length of stay was 5.5 days (mean: 9.18 days), while the ICU stay was 4.2 days (mean: 7.94 days). The total medical costs for general ward and ICU patients were US$ 38,895 and US$ 24,207,296.9, respectively. The total laboratory investigations ranked as the highest-cost services US$ 588,975 followed by treatment US$ 3,886,509.8. Overall, the total cost of all medical services for patients hospitalized with COVID-19 was US$ 51,572,393.4.

Conclusion

This national study found that COVID-19 was not only a serious concern for patients but also a serious economic burden on the health care system in Saudi Arabia.

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  1. Version published to 10.3389/fpubh.2022.927494
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2022.04.08.22273439: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Ethicsnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    (SAS®; version 9.4, SAS Institute Inc.
    SAS Institute
    suggested: (Statistical Analysis System, RRID:SCR_008567)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    This study has several strengths and limitations. Two limitations are as follows. 1) Because the data were collected from patient medical records, certain information was unavailable, such as the frequencies of laboratory and radiology services. 2) We could not determine the costs for personal protective equipment (e.g., N95 masks, gowns, protective eyewear), oxygen, plasma therapy, and over-the-counter medicines, or for the burden of comorbid disease. However, the study has the advantage of being the first – to the best of our knowledge – to include a high number of patients and detailed cost information per item and service. Additionally, this study’s findings represent unique insight into the Ministry of Health Hospital’s economic burden while providing care for COVID-19-infected individuals in Saudi Arabia. These cost data will be valuable for future researchers evaluating the COVID-19 pandemic’s increasing health care economic burden in Saudi Arabia and the implementation of cost-effective models to assess the possible implications of COVID-19 prevention and treatment initiatives.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  3. Version published to 10.1101/2022.04.08.22273439v1 on medRxiv