Cost - effectiveness Analysis of dialysis and Kidney Transplant by using DALY in Kerman

Abstract The prevalence and incidence of an end-stage renal disease that requires a renal replacement therapy are increasing. The aim of this study is to compare the cost-effectiveness of long-term dialysis treatments and kidney transplant by using DALY. This cross-sectional study was done to compare the cost-effectiveness of long-term hemodialysis and kidney transplantation treatments, using DALY index, in Afzalipour hospital of Kerman in 2012. The decision tree model and TreeAge software version 11 were used for data analysis. Costs and outcomes of this study were measured using patient's perspective. The cost of a kidney transplant was 165 million Rials; effectiveness of a kidney transplant was 4.40 DALY. The cost of chronic dialysis was 1.283 billion Rials and its effectiveness was 6.52 DALY. Cost-effectiveness ratio for the dialysis was 196 million Rials per DALY and this ratio is 37 million dollars per DALY for a kidney transplant respectively. According to the findings, kidney transplant is more cost effective than dialysis. This study suggests kidney transplant over dialysis due to its better quality of life and more life expectancy. The results can be linked with the government on deciding to allocate more resources to kidney transplant programs. The method used in this research can be applied to measure the cost-effectiveness of other organs transplantation.