Abstract
Background: To discuss and estimate the economic benefits gained by fluticasone propionate (FP) for asthmatic children over hospitalization, emergency room visit, unscheduled visit, and absence (representative by asthma-related episode).
Method: Data on asthma-related episodes in pre and post 6 months of FP use were derived from a survey of FP on asthma-related episodes. Medical cost was evaluated by using macro-cost estimate approach.
Results: Discussion of asthma-related episodes in-between before and after the use of FP in one hundred seventy-nine valuable subjects revealed that FP use significantly reduced asthma-related episodic costs of approximately 57,000 yen per 6 months (p<0.001), whereas total drug acquisition costs were significantly increased by approximately 4,000 yen per 6 months (p<0.05). When sensitivity analyses were performed, the aforementioned cost-saving results might be robust.
Conclusion: The economic evaluation of FP demonstrated that it is sufficient, whereas an acquisition cost was increased.
