Costs of hospitalization due to underlying disease or its complications in children with cerebral palsy

Background: Cerebral palsy is considered a neurological disorder and taking care of children with cerebral palsy is costly for their families. We evaluated the costs and complications of hospitalization, hoteling, treatment, paraclinic for children with cerebral palsy referring to Children’s Medical Center in 2012. This study was an attempt to estimate the expenditures required for children with CP and to take a new attitude toward their lifetime quality. Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted on 97 patients diagnosed with cerebral palsy and admitted in children’s Medical Center in 2012. Data were gathered from the archives of the hospital. These data includes patients demographic characteristics like age, gender, causes of hospitalization, duration of hospitalization, total costs, treatment costs, paraclinical costs like echocardiography, tests, EEG, ECG, radiology and hoteling costs. The gathered information was analysed with SPSS, version 20. P value<0.05 was considered significant. Results: The mean cost attributed to hoteling, paraclinic, treatment and total costs were 5,276,865 Rials, 2,020,075 Rials, 2,496,668 Rials and 11,751,818 Rials, respectively. The average number of hospitalizations was 1.59 ± 1.45 with a maximum of 10 admissions in one year. The average duration of hospitalization in one year was 14.81 ± 12.23 with minimum and maximum of one and 91 d. The average of total costs per year was 48,396,556 ± 25,267,167. Conclusions: Evaluation the costs associated with this disorder would be helpful in determining required budget and facilitating the lifetime quality of patients and their families