IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i3p1781-d742214.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

ICU-Associated Costs during the Fourth Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Tertiary Hospital in a Low-Vaccinated Eastern European Country

Author

Listed:
  • Mihai Popescu

    (Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Fundeni Clinical Institute, “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 022328 Bucharest, Romania)

  • Oana Mara Ştefan

    (Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Fundeni Clinical Institute, 022328 Bucharest, Romania)

  • Mihai Ştefan

    (Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, “C. C. Iliescu” Emergency Institute for Cardiovascular Disease, 022328 Buchares, Romania)

  • Liana Văleanu

    (Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, “C. C. Iliescu” Emergency Institute for Cardiovascular Disease, 022328 Buchares, Romania)

  • Dana Tomescu

    (Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Fundeni Clinical Institute, “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 022328 Bucharest, Romania)

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with a tremendous financial and social impact. The pressure on healthcare systems worldwide has increased with each pandemic wave. The present study assesses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare-derived costs of critically ill patients during the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in a tertiary hospital in Romania. We prospectively included patients admitted to a single-centre intensive care unit (ICU) during the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Median daily costs were calculated from financial records and divided in three groups: administrative costs, treatment costs and investigation costs. These were then compared to two retrospective cohorts of non-COVID-19 patients admitted to the same ICU during the same time interval in 2020 and 2019. Demographic data and the management of SARS-CoV-2 infection and of associated organ dysfunctions were recorded to identify risk factors for higher costs. Our results show that the COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with a 70.8% increase in total costs compared to previous years. This increase was mainly determined by an increase in medication and medical-device-related costs. We identified the following as risk factors for increased costs: higher degrees of lung involvement, severity of respiratory dysfunction, need for renal replacement therapy and the use of antiviral or immunomodulatory therapy. Costs were higher in patients who had a shorter duration of hospitalization. In conclusion, the COVID-19 pandemic is associated with increased costs for patients, and rapid measures need to be taken to ensure adequate financial support during future pandemic waves, especially in developing countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Mihai Popescu & Oana Mara Ştefan & Mihai Ştefan & Liana Văleanu & Dana Tomescu, 2022. "ICU-Associated Costs during the Fourth Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Tertiary Hospital in a Low-Vaccinated Eastern European Country," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-11, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:3:p:1781-:d:742214
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/3/1781/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/3/1781/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anas A. Khan & Yazed AlRuthia & Bander Balkhi & Sultan M. Alghadeer & Mohamad-Hani Temsah & Saqer M. Althunayyan & Yousef M. Alsofayan, 2020. "Survival and Estimation of Direct Medical Costs of Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-12, October.
    2. Mihaela Onofrei & Elena Cigu & Anca-Florentina Gavriluta (Vatamanu) & Ionel Bostan & Florin Oprea, 2021. "Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Budgetary Mechanism Established to Cover Public Health Expenditure. A Case Study of Romania," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-15, January.
    3. Beatriz González López-Valcárcel & Laura Vallejo-Torres, 2021. "The costs of COVID-19 and the cost-effectiveness of testing," Applied Economic Analysis, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 29(85), pages 77-89, February.
    4. Raluca Buturoiu & Georgiana Udrea & Denisa-Adriana Oprea & Nicoleta Corbu, 2021. "Who Believes in Conspiracy Theories about the COVID-19 Pandemic in Romania? An Analysis of Conspiracy Theories Believers’ Profiles," Societies, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-16, November.
    5. Sophia Chen & Ms. Deniz O Igan & Mr. Nicola Pierri & Mr. Andrea F Presbitero, 2020. "Tracking the Economic Impact of COVID-19 and Mitigation Policies in Europe and the United States," IMF Working Papers 2020/125, International Monetary Fund.
    6. Krzysztof Goniewicz & Amir Khorram-Manesh & Attila J. Hertelendy & Mariusz Goniewicz & Katarzyna Naylor & Frederick M. Burkle, 2020. "Current Response and Management Decisions of the European Union to the COVID-19 Outbreak: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-12, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mihaela Alexandra Gherman & Laura Arhiri & Andrei Corneliu Holman & Camelia Soponaru, 2022. "Protective Factors against Morally Injurious Memories from the COVID-19 Pandemic on Nurses’ Occupational Wellbeing: A Cross-Sectional Experimental Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-42, September.
    2. Carlos Eduardo Covantes-Rosales & Victor Wagner Barajas-Carrillo & Daniel Alberto Girón-Pérez & Gladys Alejandra Toledo-Ibarra & Karina Janice Guadalupe Díaz-Reséndiz & Migdalia Sarahy Navidad-Murriet, 2022. "Comparative Analysis of Age, Sex, and Viral Load in Outpatients during the Four Waves of SARS-CoV-2 in A Mexican Medium-Sized City," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-9, May.
    3. Mihaela Alexandra Gherman & Laura Arhiri & Andrei Corneliu Holman & Camelia Soponaru, 2022. "Injurious Memories from the COVID-19 Frontline: The Impact of Episodic Memories of Self- and Other-Potentially Morally Injurious Events on Romanian Nurses’ Burnout, Turnover Intentions and Basic Need ," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-25, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ali Zackery & Joseph Amankwah-Amoah & Zahra Heidari Darani & Shiva Ghasemi, 2022. "COVID-19 Research in Business and Management: A Review and Future Research Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-32, August.
    2. Beyer, Robert C.M. & Franco-Bedoya, Sebastian & Galdo, Virgilio, 2021. "Examining the economic impact of COVID-19 in India through daily electricity consumption and nighttime light intensity," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    3. Isabel Marques & Zélia Serrasqueiro & Fernanda Nogueira, 2021. "Managers’ Competences in Private Hospitals for Investment Decisions during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-14, February.
    4. Caroline Jardet & Baptiste Meunier, 2022. "Nowcasting world GDP growth with high‐frequency data," Journal of Forecasting, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(6), pages 1181-1200, September.
    5. Katarzyna Czech & Michał Wielechowski & Pavel Kotyza & Irena Benešová & Adriana Laputková, 2020. "Shaking Stability: COVID-19 Impact on the Visegrad Group Countries’ Financial Markets," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-19, August.
    6. Rudy Laguna Inocente, 2022. "Perú: performance regional de la economía y la salud en el contexto del coronavirus," Revista de Análisis Económico y Financiero, Universidad de San Martín de Porres, vol. 5(01), pages 26-32.
    7. Yaqi Wang & Rodrigo Viseu Cardoso & Claudiu Forgaci, 2022. "Urban Pandemic Vulnerability and COVID-19: A New Framework to Assess the Impacts of Global Pandemics in the Metropolitan Region of Amsterdam," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-19, April.
    8. Bricongne, Jean-Charles & Meunier, Baptiste & Pouget, Sylvain, 2023. "Web-scraping housing prices in real-time: The Covid-19 crisis in the UK," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(PB).
    9. Diego A. Cerdeiro & Andras Komaromi, 2022. "Supply spillovers during the pandemic: Evidence from high‐frequency shipping data," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(11), pages 3451-3474, November.
    10. Olli-Pekka Hilmola & Oskari Lähdeaho & Ville Henttu & Per Hilletofth, 2020. "Covid-19 Pandemic: Early Implications for North European Manufacturing and Logistics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-13, October.
    11. Moro, Andrea & Maresch, Daniela & Ferrando, Annalisa & Udell, Gregory F., 2022. "Funding innovation and the regulatory environment – The role of employment protection legislation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 745-756.
    12. Michele Vespe & Umberto Minora & Stefano Maria Iacus & Spyridon Spyratos & Francesco Sermi & Matteo Fontana & Biagio Ciuffo & Panayotis Christidis, 2021. "Mobility and Economic Impact of COVID-19 Restrictions in Italy using Mobile Network Operator Data," Papers 2106.00460, arXiv.org.
    13. Klose, Jens & Tillmann, Peter, 2023. "Stock market response to Covid-19, containment measures and stabilization policies—The case of Europe," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 29-44.
    14. Deniz Igan & Ali Mirzaei & Tomoe Moore, 2022. "A shot in the arm: stimulus packages and firm performance during Covid-19," BIS Working Papers 1014, Bank for International Settlements.
    15. Reinhold Kosfeld & Timo Mitze & Johannes Rode & Klaus Wälde, 2021. "The Covid‐19 containment effects of public health measures: A spatial difference‐in‐differences approach," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(4), pages 799-825, September.
    16. Karolina Sobczyk & Mateusz Grajek & Mateusz Rozmiarek & Krzysztof Sas-Nowosielski, 2022. "Local Governments Spending on Promoting Physical Activity during 2015–2020: Financial Data and the Opinion of Residents in Poland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-11, October.
    17. Klose, Jens & Tillmann, Peter, 2022. "The Real and Financial Impact of COVID-19 Around the World," VfS Annual Conference 2022 (Basel): Big Data in Economics 264030, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    18. Benedikt Janzen & Doina Radulescu, 0. "Electricity Use as a Real-Time Indicator of the Economic Burden of the COVID-19-Related Lockdown: Evidence from Switzerland," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 66(4), pages 303-321.
    19. Liliana Dumitrache & Elena Stănculescu & Mariana Nae & Daniela Dumbrăveanu & Gabriel Simion & Ana Maria Taloș & Alina Mareci, 2021. "Post-Lockdown Effects on Students’ Mental Health in Romania: Perceived Stress, Missing Daily Social Interactions, and Boredom Proneness," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-17, August.
    20. Mohammed Ali Salem Sultan & Amir Khorram-Manesh & Eric Carlström & Jarle Løwe Sørensen & Hadi Jaber Al Sulayyim & Fabian Taube, 2020. "Nurses’ Readiness for Emergencies and Public Health Challenges—The Case of Saudi Arabia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-18, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:3:p:1781-:d:742214. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.