Cost of Non-Respiratory Drugs in Copd

Poly-therapy is often prescribed for the treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients. The numerous drugs are needed to treat COPD and also its comorbidities. Medicines needed to treat comorbid conditions add to the daily cost of COPD care. This study evaluates the costs of all reimbursed drugs used from Albanian outpatients with COPD over a year, in order to highlight the impact of non-respiratory drugs. Methods The data on costs of all reimbursed drugs used in 2012 from insured COPD outpatients were obtained from Health Insurance Institute database. Drugs and their costs were divided according to the first level (main anatomical group) and the second level (main therapeutic group) of International Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification system. All the data are calculated with Microsoft Office Excel program. Results In 2012 non-respiratory drugs represented 45% of total drug reimbursement for Albanian outpatients with COPD. More expensive drugs were the ones acting on: Cardiovascular system (57% of non-respiratory drug reimbursement), Alimentary tract and metabolism (16%), Sensory organs (7%), Genito - urinary system and sexual hormones (6%) and Nervous system (5%). It was found no correlation between the number of COPD outpatients and non-respiratory drug reimbursement. Non-respiratory drugs used in insured COPD outpatients are associated with considerable cost and they should be considered when estimating economic burden of COPD. Drugs acting in cardiovascular system and those used in diabetes have the most increased cost among them.