Potential Economic Benefit of Treatment for Severe Traumatic Brain Injury in Uganda
Public Deposited- Last Modified
- January 2, 2020
- Creator
-
Simpson, Lauren
- Affiliation: Gillings School of Global Public Health, Public Health Leadership Program
- Abstract
- Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Although the majority of the global burden of disease likely occurs in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, there is a paucity of data surveillance and analysis reporting on incidence rate, morbidity, mortality, and economic costs attributable to traumatic brain injury. Methods: A systematic review of all of the epidemiological studies published on TBI in East Africa over the past decade and assessed the available data from those studies was performed. We used a prognostic model to estimate outcomes of conservative and neurosurgical treatment for severe TBI data from a cohort of patients at the national referral hospital of Uganda in the capital city of Kampala during a 13-month study period. To evaluate the long-term impact of treatment for severe TBI, averted DALYs were calculated and converted to dollars using the human capital approach and the value of a statistical life (VSL) approach. This cohort was then used as a representative sample for assessing severe TBI-related benefit for all of Uganda using a combination of this data and explicit assumptions. Results: From May 2008 to June 2009, 127 cases of severe TBI were treated at New Mulago Hospital averting 1,448 DALYs [0,0,0], 1,075 DALYs [3,1,0.04], or 974 DALYs [3,1,0.03]. Using the human capital approach, the economic benefit of intervention ranged from approximately $1.3 million to $1.7 million. The VSL approach estimated an economic benefit of $282,902 to over $11 million. The health benefit of severe TBI for all Ugandans was estimated at between about 11,000 and 17,000 averted DALYs per year with an annual potential economic benefit of $15 million to $20 million using the human capital approach and $3.3 million to $130 million using the VSL approach. Conclusions: Our study suggests that treatment of severe TBI in Uganda has the potential to reduce a significant proportion of morbidity, mortality, and economic burden. The amount of economic gain produced from treating a small cohort of patients indicates the importance of treatment for severe TBI in developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
- Date of publication
- 2012
- DOI
- Resource type
- Rights statement
- In Copyright
- Note
- Paper type: Research or research design
- Advisor
- Viera, Anthony
- Degree
- Master of Public Health
- Degree granting institution
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Graduation year
- 2012
- Language
- Deposit record
- b6f6bdeb-f0b9-4907-a2ad-769b5d2e1080
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