The healthcare cost of infections related to antibiotic-resistant organisms at University Medical Center in Ho Chi Minh City

Abstract

A retrospective descriptive cross-sectional study aims to analyse the direct healthcare costs attributable to treating patients infected Multidrug - resistant organisms at the University Medical Center in Ho Chi Minh City from June 2018 to September 2019. Participants were ICU patients diagnosed with either MRSA or CRE infection, and patients infected with nonmultidrug-resistant organisms (non-MDRO) as the comparison group. Results showed that a total of 227 patients, including 37 MRSAinfected patients, 97 CRE-infected patients, and 93 non-MDRO infected patients, were recruited. The additional average healthcare cost for a treatment episode of a CRE infection case [367.7 million VND (approx. $US 16,000)] and an MRSA infection case [139.1 million VND (approx. $US 6,043)] was 3.8- time higher (p 0.001) and 1.5-fold greater (p 0.001), respectively, than the average cost for a non-MDRO case [94.8 million (approx. $US 4,1212)]. Resource use for a CRE infection was higher than that of an MRSA infection, with  longer antibiotic treatment (13.4 additional days), greater LOS (15.8 additional days), and higher costs (additional 228.6 million VND, approx. $US 9,939). This study showed that multidrug-resistant infections create a heavy economic burden in a low-middle-income country like Vietnam. The elevated cost is mainly due to longer antibiotic treatment and increased LOS.