Abstract:

Objective: To investigate the economic burden of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) in western China and provide reference for developing policies to reduce the economic burden of TB patients. Methods: This cross-sectional study employed cluster sampling to select 16 TB treatment facilities across 12 western provinces in China from October 2022 to December 2020. Face-to-face questionnaire surveys were conducted on drug-susceptive pulmonary TB patients who had undergone treatment for more than two weeks. These surveys encompassed their demographic characteristics, expenses and household income. Descriptive analysis was used to analyze the demographic characteristics, expenses and catastrophic expenditure of patients. Results: A total of 1030 patients with pulmonary TB were included in the study. The median (IQR) of the total cost for tuberculosis patients was 8703.30 (4046.00, 15715.59) yuan, comprising direct medical costs of 5823.85 (2341.01, 10852.23) yuan, direct non-medical costs of 1589.53 (675.14, 3163.45) yuan, and indirect costs of 12.03 (0.34, 720.27) yuan. A total of 52.82% (544/1030) of patients experienced household catastrophic expenditure for the treatment of pulmonary TB. Conclusion: The economic burden of pulmonary TB patients in western region of China is heavy. The total cost and direct medical cost of pulmonary TB patients are high, contributing to a heightened incidence of household catastrophic expenditure.

Key words: Tuberculosis, pulmonary, Economic burden, Expenditure, Questionnaires survey