Cost-effectiveness of Hydrocortisone Injection, Symbicort Inhaler and Prednisolone Tablets Used in Treatment of Asthma in Alshaab Teaching Hospital Khartoum, Sudan

Background: Asthma is a chronic disease and one of the most familiar long-term respiratory diseases affecting millions of adults worldwide. High utilisation of healthcare resources in treating asthma and limited resources allocated to the disease has imposed the use of Pharmaco-economics evaluation methods such as cost-effectiveness analysis in healthcare decision-making. Hence, the present study is planned to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of corticosteroid preparations used in treating asthmatic patients at Alshaab Teaching Hospital (ASH) Khartoum, Khartoum State, Sudan. Materials and Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional design, whereby the cost and outcome of corticosteroid preparations were collected together. One hundred and thirty-nine adult asthmatic patients were systematically selected as the sample size. The data were collected using EQ-5D-3L Arabic version questionnaire and data collection forms and analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM) version 24.0. Results: In this study, out of 139 patients, the majority of them (58%) were females, fell within the 16-40 age group category (38%) and were married (82%). Our findings showed that the Symbicort inhaler was the most expensive preparation with an Average Cost-Effectiveness Ratio (ACER) of 3,283.10 SDG ($4901) per treatment. Prednisolone tablet was the least expensive, with an ACER of 643.40 SDG ($ 96) per treatment, the most reasonable alternative concerning effectiveness, and the most efficient preparation concerning effectiveness-adjusted costs. Conclusion: This study concluded that the prevalence of asthma and utilisation of pharmaceutical products and services among adult asthmatic patients in ASH was higher in females (58%) and those in the 16-40 age group. The Symbicort inhaler was the most expensive preparation, and the Prednisolone tablet was the least expensive and most cost-effective of the three preparations evaluated in ASH.