Cost-Effectiveness of Growth Hormone (Somatropin) for the Treatment of Children with Short Stature

  One of the common problems of children all over the world is short stature. Due to the high costs of treatment, the present research studied the cost-effectiveness of growth hormone (Somatropin) for the treatment of children with short stature in Kerman Province. This research is an economic evaluation. The population of the study consisted of all persons who had medical records in the health insurance office of Kerman province, of whom 49 were selected as samples. The cost was calculated from the perspectives of patients and insurers. This information was collected through a researcher-made form by interviewing the patients and reviewing the records of health insurance office. To calculate the outcomes, QALY and Increase in Height were used. For cost effectiveness analysis, the ICER formula and TreeAge software were employed and compared with a threshold of 3 times GDP per capita. The findings showed that the share of patients' treatment costs was 5,092,964,520 and the expenses of Health Insurance Organization of Kerman province was 71,175,443,448 rials. Based on Qaly criterion, incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was 743,133 and 9,846,567 rials from the perspective of the patient and of the health insurance organization, respectively. Sensitivity analysis of non-deterministic parameters of the model showed that they had no effect on the cost-effectiveness of treatment with growth hormone. According to the results, the treatment of short-stature children with growth hormone is cost-effective, and this result can be considered by health system policy makers.