Patient treatment cost of oral diseases in Ghana

Seli Y. Deh, Justice Nonvignon, Moses Aikins, Samuel A. Agyemang, Genevieve C. Ar-Yeetey

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Objectives: To estimate patient treatment cost of oral diseases in Ghana Design: A cross-sectional study design using cost-of-illness analysis was employed Setting: The study was conducted at the dental unit of the University of Ghana Hospital, Legon Participants: About185 patients attending the dental unit of the hospital were selected Interventions: None Main outcome measures: Direct medical and non-medical costs, indirect costs, and intangible costs of treatment of oral conditions Results: The estimated average cost of treatment for oral diseases was US$ 35.75. The total cost was US$ 6,614.11, with the direct and indirect costs constituting 94.5% and 5.5%, respectively of the total cost. Direct medical costs constituted 86.9%, while direct non-medical costs constituted 13.1% of the total direct cost. The richer socio-economic group had the highest cost per quintile, with a mean of US$ 46.69. The intangible cost described was highest for pain (47.1%), followed by difficulty in eating (40.8%) and sleeping (34.6%) for both men and women. Conclusion: The costs of oral diseases are huge and cannot be overlooked. Oral diseases also pose significant produc-tivity losses to patients.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)176-184
Number of pages9
JournalGhana Medical Journal
Volume56
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sep 2022

Keywords

  • Ghana
  • Oral diseases
  • direct cost
  • indirect cost
  • sensitivity analysis
  • treatment

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Patient treatment cost of oral diseases in Ghana'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this