Introduction:

Dengue, pneumonia and Acute Bacterial Meningitis (ABM) produce a high socioeconomic impact, a high economic and social burden on health systems and society.

Objective:

to compare the economic costs and burdens of dengue, pneumonia and ABM in hospitalized patients ≤15 years of age, between January 2007 and May 2019.

Materials and Methods:

This was an observational and descriptive study. The data were obtained from records of hospitalized patients diagnosed with Dengue, pneumonia and ABM. Direct medical costs were obtained from the hospital database. For direct non-medical and indirect costs, international literature estimates for Paraguay were used. The DALYs were calculated from the sum of the AVPP and the DVSP.

Results:

784, 1419 and 125 patients with Dengue, pneumonia and ABM were identified, respectively. The mean age was 118.1 ± 53.6; 34.0±38.9 and 52.1±64.3 months, respectively (p<0.05). Mean days of hospitalization: 4.8±2.8; 9.4±8.7 and 13.8±14.0 days, respectively. 8.9% (70/784) of the cases with dengue, 29.6% (420/1419) of the pneumonias and 70.4% (88/125) of the ABM cases required ICU. 0.6% (5/784), 5.3% (78/1419) and 31.2% (39/125) patients died. The cost per hospitalization for dengue, pneumonia, and meningitis was US$ 465,496, US$ 3094,721, and US$ 127,063, respectively; YPPA were 328.1, 5373.4 and 1846.7 years, respectively; the DVSPs were 1459.8, 8595.2 and 996.1, respectively, and the DALYs were 1641.66; 13968.6 and 2842.8, respectively.

Conclusions:

The costs of care for these immunopreventable pathologies are considerable, they produce an important impact in the country’s social, health and economic sectors.

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