Author(s)

Mehtap Tatar^1*, Ayşen Şentürk², Gülpembe Ergin Oğuzhan², Esin Tuna², Cem Mat³, Emel Bülbül Başkan⁴, Ferda Artüz⁵, Mehmet Ali Gürer⁶, Nilgün Atakan⁷, Serhat İnalöz⁸, Selin Sezen Çavuşoğlu⁹, Abdülkadir Keskinaslan⁹, İsmail Mete Şaylan⁹

¹Department of Health Care Management, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey.
²Polar Health Economics and Policy Consultancy, Ankara, Turkey.
³Istanbul University Cerrahpasa Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey.
⁴Uludag University Faculty of Medicine, Bursa, Turkey.
⁵Ankara Numune Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
⁶Gazi University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
⁷Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
⁸Gaziantep University Faculty of Medicine, Gaziantep, Turkey.
⁹Novartis, Suryapi & Akel is Merkezi, istanbul, Turkey.

Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria (CSU) is a chronic disease with significant negative impact on quality of life of patients. The direct and indirect costs of the disease can be substantial both for the health care system and society. The aim of this research is to estimate the cost of mild, moderate and severe CSU in Turkey and to forecast the cost of the disease from the payer (Social Security Institution—SSI) perspective. Expert opinions with Delphi technique were used in order to determine the cost items and their frequency. A questionnaire was designed to outline resources used in the out-patient, inpatient and emergency care episodes and was answered by dermatologists followed by a consensus meeting. Unit costs were calculated from the price list of the SSI. The annual total cost of treating the disease to the SSI was estimated as 262,111,978TL (94,417,870€) comprising 0.06% of the total healthcare budget in 2013. Since there is limited information about the cost of CSU in Turkey, the methodology and results of this study are unique and very important.

Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria, Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria, Turkey, Cost

Tatar, M. , Şentürk, A. , Oğuzhan, G. , Tuna, E. , Mat, C. , Başkan, E. , Artüz, F. , Gürer, M. , Atakan, N. , İnalöz, S. , Çavuşoğlu, S. , Keskinaslan, A. and Şaylan, İ. (2016) Cost of Treatment of Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria in Turkey. Health, 8, 1098-1103. doi: 10.4236/health.2016.811114.