OBJECTIVES: This article aimed to count and compare treatment's direct (only biological drugs) and indirect (loss of productivity) costs in patients with rheumatoid arthritis from 2019 to 2021. METHODS: The friction cost approach was used to establish indirect costs. Elasticity factor values and friction period for the Slovak Republic from 2019 to 2021 were determined. Direct drug costs were calculated based on average prices from 2019 to 2021 and the number of dispensed medication packages. RESULTS: The average productivity loss reached €2984.54 in 2019, €3338.46 in 2020, and €3154.01 in 2021. Total indirect costs include productivity loss and sick pay, and from 2019 to 2021 came the values of €8.4 million, €10.1 million, and €8.1 million, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Indirect costs were almost 2.5 to 3 times lower than the biological and targeted treatment costs.
Využitie spoločenskej perspektívy vo farmako-ekonomických analýzach je široko diskutovanou témou. Jedným zo základných problémov využívania spoločenskej perspektívy je nejednotnosť výpočtu nepriamych nákladov. V analýzach sa najčastejšie využívajú dva prístupy na hodnotenie nepriamych nákladov: Human capital approach (HCA) a Friction cost approach (FCA). Zatiaľ čo HCA má pomerne jasnú a jednoduchú metodiku, FCA takúto zjednotenú široko uznávanú metodiku nemá. Vyhľadávali sme publikované články o používaní a rozdielnosti postupov HCA a FCA pomocou databázy Web of Science pomocou kľúčových slov. Analyzovali sme získané informácie z relevantných publikácii. Získali sme prehľad odporúčaní pre využívanie spoločenskej perspektívy vo svete. Zhrnuli a zdôraznili sme základné informácie o rozdielnosti medzi postupmi FCA a HCA. Identifikovali sme kľúčové premenné, ktoré by mali vystupovať v metóde FCA pri ohodnocovaní productivity cost, a navrhli sme postup ich získania. Odporúčame vytvorenie jednotnej metodiky, ktorá by mohla zvýšiť porovnávanie jednotlivých analýz z rôznych štátov a prispieť k prenositeľnosti dát.
The use of a societal perspective in pharmacoeconomic analyses is a widely discussed topic. One of the fundamental problems of using the social perspective is the inconsistency of indirect costs calculation. We searched published articles on the use and differences of Human capital approach (HCA) and Friction cost approach (FCA) methods using the Web of Science database using keywords. We analyzed the information obtained from relevant publications. We obtained an overview of recommendations for the use of a social perspective in the world. We summarized and highlighted the necessary information about the differences between the FCA and HCA procedures. We have identified the key variables used in the FCA method when evaluating productivity cost, and we have proposed a procedure for obtaining them. We recommend creating a uniform methodology that could increase the comparison of individual analyses from different countries and contribute to data transferability.
