Browsing by Author "Boateng, B.N."

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    Estimating The Cost Of Diagnosing And Monitoring Preeclampsia Using The Protein-To-Creatinine (PRCR) Urinary Dipstick Test And Standard Of Care Protein-Only Urinary Dipstick Test
    (University Of Ghana, 2022-06) Boateng, B.N.
    BACKGROUND: Gestational hypertension (also known as pre-eclampsia) remains the leading cause of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality in many low and middle-income countries (LMICs), killing 76,000 women and 500,000 babies annually. Furthermore, women in lowresource countries are at a higher risk of developing hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and preeclampsia compared with those in high-resource countries. Pre-eclampsia is characterized by high blood pressure and elevated levels of protein in the urine. It is usually diagnosed if blood pressure is above 140/90mmHg and a higher amount of protein in one’s urine (proteinuria) significantly more than 30 mg/dL after 20 weeks of conception. In recent years, the testing for urinary protein excretion has become essential to the care of pregnant women, predominantly for those who are at higher risk of developing pre-eclampsia. OBJECTIVE: This study estimated the cost associated with the diagnosis and monitoring of preeclampsia among pregnant women using a Protein-to-creatinine (PrCr) urinary dipstick test and standard of care Protein-only urinary dipstick test in three selected hospitals in Ghana. METHODS: The study used a cross-sectional design with a micro-costing approach to estimate the financial cost which entails direct cost and economic cost which entails direct and indirect cost of the Protein-to-Creatinine (PrCr) urinary dipstick test and standard of care Protein-only urinary dipstick test for diagnosing and monitoring pre-eclampsia. Using a random sampling technique, 60 healthcare professionals were sampled from Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Greater Accra Regional Hospital, and Koforidua Regional Hospital. All analyses were done from the healthcare provider perspective. Microsoft Excel was used to analyzed data using simple statistical techniques such as summation, mean and frequencies and percentages. RESULTS: The financial cost of running the PrCr test for the three facilities by the healthcare professionals during data collection is GHS170.75 ($27.74) with an average cost of GHS2.85 ($0.46) per test and the cost of running the Protein-only test is GHS167.05 ($27.14) with an average cost of GHS2.78 ($0.45) per test. The total economic cost of the PrCr test for the three facilities by the healthcare professionals during data collection is GHS304.77 ($49.52) with an average cost of GHS5.16 ($0.84) per test respectively. Also, the total economic cost of running the Protein-only test is GHS341.38 ($55.46) with an average cost of GHS5.75 ($0.93) per test. CONCLUSION: The study concludes that there is not much difference in the cost of running a PrCr and a Protein-only test despite the fact that the economic cost of running a protein-only test is higher than that of PrCr test and the financial cost of running a PrCr test is higher than that of a Protein-only test.