Dados do Trabalho

Título

The Health economic analysis of the telemonitoring for heart failure care: the MESSAGE-HF Trial

Resumo

Objective: To evaluate the cost of heart failure (HF) patients after discharge from a decompensation in Brazil.
Methods: This is a nested-study on "MESSAGE-HF" clinical trial in Brazil, which evaluated the feasibility and effectiveness of a SMS text message-based telemonitoring program following hospital discharge for decompensated HF. Direct hospital costs were evaluated at a microcosting level, having the cost information stratified in medication consumption, medical visits, exams, and hospitalizations, allowing to compare differences in cost composition between the intervention and control groups over 6 months. A final analysis evaluated the overall study sample, comprehending the estimated costs of HF patients in Brazil. The results were described and statistically analyzed with the non-parametric Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon test. The analyses were conducted using RStudio© software.
Results: Patients under the SMS program registered higher costs in most categories, except for hospitalization costs, which were lower compared to the control group (p=0.041), suggesting that the telemonitoring program had a positive impact on reducing hospitalization-related costs. The cost per HF patient is estimated at R$ 5,644 (SD 12.676) per 180 days, or almost R$ 11,290 per year.
Conclusion: These results can guide future health economic analysis and the definition of health policies to cover the expenses in treating HF patients in a Universal Healthcare System.

Palavras Chave

Heart Failure; Cost Evaluation; Telemonitoring Program