A health-related quality of life and pharmacotherapy costs study for patients with cystic fybrosis, gaucher disease and chronic myeloid leukemia in Bulgaria

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to analyze the cost of pharmacotherapy and quality of life of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF), Gaucher disease (GD) and chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in Bulgaria. Data for the pharmacotherapy cost were compiled retrospectively. The second part of the study included a prospective quality-of-life survey (conducted at the Medical University Hospital "Alexandrovska" in 2010 and 2011). We estimated the average monthly pharmacotherapy costs according to data from the hospital registries. The quality-of-life survey was done through interviews based on the short form of SF-36, which measures 9 health domains. The total number of patients was 18, of which 10 were with CML, 5 with cystic fibrosis and 3 with Gaucher disease. The average age of the male and female patients with CML was 49.1 years and 48.3 years, respectively; 25 and 24 years in the group with GD, respectively; and 29.5 and 35.3 years in CF group, respectively. No statistical difference between the average monthly pharmacotherapy costs for the observed period was revealed. In all patients the quality of life was below the maximum possible value, which is equal to 100 points. The lowest values for the different indicators of quality of life were observed in the CF patients, most likely due to the chronic progression of this particular rare disease. The average range of quality of life for this group was 53.75. We found a statistical correlation between the pharmacotherapy costs and the quality of life. The Spearman correlation analysis revealed a correlation between the drug therapy costs and some quality-of-life indicators only in the patients with CML. The correlation between the pharmacotherapy costs and physiological functions in patients with CML was positive, i.e. higher costs improved this indicator. The pharmacotherapy costs were high, the average values for the three groups of patients being: BGN 9221.61 for 2010 and BGN 8254.64 for January-March 2011 for patients with CF, BGN 32954.08 for those with GD, and BGN 6389.38 for 2010 and BGN 6591.19 for the second period for the CML patients. The quality of life was significantly reduced for the observed patients: the average value for quality of life were 53.75, 65.03 and 67, respectively, from a maximum of 100.