Health Care and Hospitalisation Costs of Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) in Thailand

Abstract

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) has become a leading cause of death and disability in Thailand due to the unhealthy lifestyle of the populace; triggering high risk of exposure to CVD, and increased the number of hospital admissions year on year. Objectives: The concerns generated by the inflation in the health care expenditure among service providers motivated this study to examine the costs of hospitalisation of inpatients with (CVD) conditions in Thailand, 2009. Methods: Anonymised secondary data of 327,435 CVD inpatients under "Universal Coverage" (UC) health care scheme were obtained from the National Health Security Office (NHSO), Thailand. The data (51.69% women and 48.31% men) were classified using International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) code, of which I20-I25 are Ischemic heart disease (IHD), I60-I69 are stroke and I00-I99 are all CVD conditions. Results: Average costs of treatments for all CVD conditions, IHD and stroke were ฿21,921 (£1 = ฿50), ฿32,884 (highest) and ฿25617.67 per patient respectively. Absolute total cost increased with age and the cost of admission of male patients is higher than female. The average (three months) length of stay for stroke patients was found to be the highest. Conclusion: Providers generally spent a total of ฿7177 million on the treatment of CVD with IHD and stroke taking ฿2544 million and ฿1920 million respectively.

Thai Tea Seed Oil and Virgin Olive Oil Similarly Reduce Plasma Lipids: A Pilot Study within a Healthy Adult Male Population

“…In Thailand, the incidence of CVD increases with aging, a more sedentary lifestyle, and the intake of non‐traditional diets characterized by an abundant amount of highly processed foods and oils containing large amounts of trans‐ and saturated fats. [ 1,2 ] Most national health guidelines stress the importance of dietary modification for the reduction of major CVD risk factors such as elevated blood lipids. [ 3,4 ] This can include the substitution of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) for saturated fatty acids (SFA) and refined carbohydrates in the diet.…”