Investigation and comparison of g6pd enzyme screening test costs for all newborns with treatment costs of patients with favism admitted due to hemolysis

Abstract

Objective. We compared the glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency screening costs in neonates and treatment costs for patients with favism who were referred to the government hospitals of Isfahan with acute hemolysis. Methods. In this retrospective study, 116 patients with favism were selected, and their clinical data and treatment costs were recorded in Iranian Rials (IRR) and United States Dollars (USD). The costs of neonatal G6PD screening tests were estimated based on quantitative and qualitative screening kits by referring to each hospital's laboratories. Approximately 84760 births occurred in Isfahan province from October 2014 to October 2015. Results. Based on our results, 73 patients (62.9) were males, and 43 of them (37.1) were females. The causes for hemolysis were the consumption of broad beans in 78.4, infection in 19.8, and drugs (erythromycin and sodium cephalothin) in 1.7 of patients. The majority of patients (46.6) received a single blood transfusion, and 18.9 received two or more transfusions, while 34.5 had received no blood transfusions. The mean and standard deviation of patients' medical expenses were 7,472,005±7,329,847 IRR (276.74±271.47 USD). The total cost of treatment for patients was 869,162,324 IRR (32,191.19 USD). The screening cost for all newborns from October 2014 to October 2015 with qualitative kits was 754,364,000 IRR (27,939.40 USD) and with the quantitative kits was 960,330,800 IRR (35,567.80 USD). Conclusion. The costs of the qualitative screening test for G6PD deficiency are lower than the costs of treatments of favism patients in Isfahan. © 2020, Serbian Medical Society. All rights reserved.