Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35578247›Full record

ArticleBMC health services research2022

Direct and indirect costs for hospitalized patients with dengue in Southern Sri Lanka.

N P Weerasinghe, C K Bodinayake, W M D G B Wijayaratne, I V Devasiri, N J Dahanayake, M R P Kurukulasooriya, M Premamali, T Sheng, B P Nicholson, H A Ubeysekera and 5 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC health services research, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Vector control strategies for preventing dengue transmission.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2026
    Article
  3. Article
  4. Review
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

15 authors.

N P WeerasingheDepartment of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna, Galle, Sri Lanka. nayanipw@yahoo.com.
C K BodinayakeDuke-Ruhuna Collaborative Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna, Galle, Sri Lanka.
W M D G B WijayaratneDepartment of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna, Galle, Sri Lanka.
I V DevasiriDuke-Ruhuna Collaborative Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna, Galle, Sri Lanka.
N J DahanayakeDuke-Ruhuna Collaborative Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna, Galle, Sri Lanka.
M R P KurukulasooriyaDuke-Ruhuna Collaborative Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna, Galle, Sri Lanka.
M PremamaliDuke-Ruhuna Collaborative Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna, Galle, Sri Lanka.
T ShengDuke-Ruhuna Collaborative Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna, Galle, Sri Lanka.
B P NicholsonDuke-Ruhuna Collaborative Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna, Galle, Sri Lanka.
H A UbeysekeraTeaching Hospital, Karapitiya, Galle, Sri Lanka.
A D de SilvaFaculty of Medicine, General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University, Ratmalana, Sri Lanka.
T ØstbyeDuke-Ruhuna Collaborative Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna, Galle, Sri Lanka.
C W WoodsDuke-Ruhuna Collaborative Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna, Galle, Sri Lanka.
L G TillekeratneDuke-Ruhuna Collaborative Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna, Galle, Sri Lanka.
A De S NagahawatteDepartment of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna, Galle, Sri Lanka.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe Southern Province of Sri Lanka is endemic with dengue, with frequent outbreaks and occurrence of severe disease. However, the economic burden of dengue is poorly quantified. Therefore, we conducted a cost analysis to assess the direct and indirect costs associated with hospitalized patients with dengue to households and to the public healthcare system.

methodsFrom June 2017-December 2018, we prospectively enrolled children and adults with acute dengue hospitalized at the largest, public tertiary-care (1800 bed) hospital in the Southern Province, Sri Lanka. We administered a structured questionnaire to obtain information regarding direct costs spent by households on medical visits, medications, laboratory testing, and travel for seeking care for the illness. Indirect costs lost by households were estimated by identifying the days of work lost by patients and caregivers and school days lost by children. Direct hospital costs were estimated using gross costing approach and adjusted by multiplying by annual inflation rates in Sri Lankan rupees and converted to US dollars.

resultsA total of 1064 patients with laboratory-confirmed dengue were enrolled. The mean age (SD) was 35.9 years (15.6) with male predominance (66.2%). The mean durations of hospitalization for adults and paediatric patients were 3.86 (SD = 1.51) and 4 (SD = 1.32) days, respectively. The per-capita direct cost borne by the healthcare system was 233.76 USD, and was approximately 14 times greater than the per-capita direct cost borne by households (16.29 USD, SD = 14.02). The per-capita average number of loss of working days was 21.51 (SD = 41.71), with mean per-capita loss of income due to loss of work being 303.99 USD (SD = 569.77), accounting for over 70% of average monthly income. On average, 10.88 days (SD = 10.97) of school days were missed due to the dengue episode. School misses were expected to reduce future annual income of affected children by 0.44%.

conclusionsDengue requiring hospitalization had a substantial economic burden on the public healthcare system in Sri Lanka and the affected households. These findings emphasize the importance of strengthening dengue control activities and improved use of hospital-based resources for care to reduce the economic impact of dengue in Sri Lanka.

Indexed as

DengueHospitalizationAdultChildFamily CharacteristicsFemaleHospital CostsHumansMaleSri LankaDengueDirect costsIndirect costsSri Lanka

Identifiers

PMID35578247
PMCPMC9112532

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.