Direct Healthcare Cost of Ischemic Stroke Management in Morocco

Strokes are a group of heterogeneous conditions that can cause lasting brain damage, long-term disability, or even death. In Morocco, the management of this disease generates important expenses and increases the financial burden on health care. In order to rationalize the expenses and to direct the budgetary policy in healthcare, we aimed to estimate the cost of ischemic stroke (IS) management in Morocco through this study.

A cost-of-illness study was conducted between March 2018 and March 2019 at the neurology department of the Hassan II University Hospital, Fez. We included all patients who were admitted, during this period, to the department for IS. The collected data included sociodemographic information, and all details regarding the patient's medical management (diagnosis, treatment, etc.). The cost was estimated using a "bottom-up micro-costing" approach with a societal perspective.

A total of 267 individuals were included in this study with a female predominance (56.6%); the mean age was 66.93 ± 14.83 years. The total cost of ischemic stroke management per patient per year was estimated at $3674.32 ± 1340.81, with a high share related to hospitalization at $1415.06 ± 1015.53. A statistically significant association was found between total cost and age (p=0.014), National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score (p≤0.001), and length of hospitalization (p≤0.001); however, no association was found with other factors (sex, complication, Rankin score, etc.).

Ischemic strokes are relatively frequent in Morocco. Their management generates an important cost, which is influenced by several factors such as severity of the disease and the duration of hospitalization. This cost can be decreased by rationalizing the expenses and acting on various risk factors of ischemic strokes.