Health Economic Burden of COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia

Background

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has placed a massive economic burden on health care systems worldwide. Saudi Arabia is one of the numerous countries that have been economically affected by this pandemic. The objective of this study was to provide real-world data on the health economic burden of COVID-19 on the Saudi health sector and assess the direct medical costs associated with the management of COVID-19.

Methods

A retrospective cohort study was conducted based on data collected from patients hospitalized with COVID-19 across ten institutions in eight different regions in Saudi Arabia. The study calculated the estimated costs of all cases during the study period by using direct medical costs. These costs included costs directly related to medical services, such as the health care treatment, hospital stays, laboratory investigations, treatment, outcome, and other related care.

Results

A total of 5,286 adult patients admitted with COVID-19 during the study period were included in the study. The average age of the patients was 54 years, and the majority were male. Among the COVID-19 patients hospitalized in a general ward, the median hospital length of stay was 5.5 days (mean: 9.18 days), while the ICU stay was 4.26 days (mean: 7.94 days). The total medical costs for general ward and ICU patients were 14,585,640 SAR and 90,776,250 SAR, respectively. The total laboratory investigations ranked as the highest-cost services (22,086,296 SAR), followed by treatment (14,574,233.1 SAR). Overall, the total cost of all medical services for patients hospitalized with COVID-19 was 193,394,103.1 SAR.

Conclusion

This national study found that COVID-19 was not only a serious concern for patients but also a serious economic burden on the health care system in Saudi Arabia.

Key points

• The nursing costs and length of stay were lower in the ICU than in the general ward.

• The costs of hospitalization in general medical wards were less than those of admission to the ICU.

• These cost data will be valuable for future researchers evaluating the COVID-19 pandemic’s increasing health care economic burden in Saudi Arabia and the implementation of cost-effective models to assess the possible implications of COVID-19 prevention and treatment initiatives.