ArticleSingapore medical journal2021
Help-seeking patterns and funding strategies in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension on phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors: an orphan disease with effective but costly treatment.
Article in Singapore medical journal, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Performance of Risk-Stratification Scores for Patients With Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension in a Multi-Ethnic Asian Population.Pulmonary circulation · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionPulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is associated with high medical and pharmaceutical costs. Phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) inhibitors have been found to be beneficial but costly. They are not subsidised in Singapore except via the Medication Assistance Fund (MAF) Plus scheme. In this study, we described the help-seeking behaviour of patients and funding strategies for Singaporean patients on PDE5 inhibitors in our registry.
methodsWe consecutively recruited all patients with PAH who presented to our pulmonary hypertension specialty centre between 1 January 2003 and 29 December 2016. Singaporean patients on PDE5 inhibitors were included. Data recorded and analysed for this study included baseline demographics, whether the patients received MAF Plus funding, percentage of funding, and any additional source of subsidies.
results114 (77.0%) of 148 patients in the registry were Singapore citizens on PDE5 inhibitors. 75 (65.8%) of these 114 patients had been seen by a medical social worker, of whom 16 were on MAF Plus funding. 14 of the remaining 59 patients were subsidised by MediFund, whereas the remainder were self-paying. 30 (26.3%) patients in total were on some form of subsidy, and 28 (24.6%) patients were on combination therapy. Of this group, nine were receiving MAF Plus subsidies.
conclusionFewer than expected patients were found to be receiving drug subsidies for PAH. This was partly due to insufficient referrals and lack of requests for financial assistance. Patients on combination therapy had greater financial challenges. This study should spur us on to study funding gaps further and address them.
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