Direct non-medical and indirect costs of glaucoma care in a Nigerian Tertiary Eye Clinic

Direct non-medical costs are health expenditures which are not part of the cost of medical services such as cost of transportation, feeding and accommodation while indirect cost represents the productivity losses incurred as a result of seeking medical care.

To estimate the direct non-health care cost and indirect cost the loss of earning per visit incurred by glaucoma patients attending glaucoma clinic in National Eye Centre, Kaduna.

A hospital based cross-sectional study conducted over three months (November, 2017–January 2018). One hundred and fifty (150) consecutive glaucoma patients on follow up visits to the glaucoma clinic were recruited (50 per month). The study was conducted using a structured interviewer-administered questionnaire. The study estimated the patients’ monthly income, the method of funding glaucoma treatment, direct and indirect cost of treatment of glaucoma and the productivity loss during the course of a visit to the glaucoma clinic.

Of the 150 persons that participated in the study, 81 (54%) were males with a M: F of 1:1.2 The mean age of the respondents was 55.36 years ± 13.7SD. Majority of the respondents 90(66.7%) fell within the professional or skilled groups of occupation. The direct non-health costs recorded in this study were transportation (96.5%), accommodation (3.2%) and feeding (0.3%). The estimates were higher than the average monthly cost of medications. Respondents of the professional group had a higher mean productivity loss (₦3091 per visit) compared to the skilled (₦783) and unskilled groups (₦176).

Participants in this study, incurred a high direct non-medical and indirect cost. The direct non-medical cost was higher for patients who had to travel to access glaucoma care while indirect cost was higher among professional who had to travel to access care.