E-ISSN 2281-4612 ISSN 2281-3993 Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy Vol 2 No 8 October 2013 82 Cost of Non-Respiratory Drugs in Copd Alida Sina PhD Student, Health Insurance Institute, Tirana, Albania E-mail: alida_sina@yahoo.com Zamira Shabani University of Shkoder “Luigj Gurakuqi”, Sheshi “2 Prilli” , Shkodër – Albania E-mail: shabanizamira@yahoo.com Doi:10.5901/ajis.2013.v2n8p82 Abstract Poly-therapy is often prescribed for the treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients. The numerous drugs are needed to treat COPD and also its comorbidities. Medicines needed to treat comorbid conditions add to the daily cost of COPD care. This study evaluates the costs of all reimbursed drugs used from Albanian outpatients with COPD over a year, in order to highlight the impact of non-respiratory drugs. Methods The data on costs of all reimbursed drugs used in 2012 from insured COPD outpatients were obtained from Health Insurance Institute database. Drugs and their costs were divided according to the first level (main anatomical group) and the second level (main therapeutic group) of International Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification system. All the data are calculated with Microsoft Office Excel program. Results In 2012 non-respiratory drugs represented 45% of total drug reimbursement for Albanian outpatients with COPD. More expensive drugs were the ones acting on: Cardiovascular system (57% of non-respiratory drug reimbursement), Alimentary tract and metabolism (16%), Sensory organs (7%), Genito - urinary system and sexual hormones (6%) and Nervous system (5%). It was found no correlation between the number of COPD outpatients and non-respiratory drug reimbursement. Non-respiratory drugs used in insured COPD outpatients are associated with considerable cost and they should be considered when estimating economic burden of COPD. Drugs acting in cardiovascular system and those used in diabetes have the most increased cost among them. Keywords: ATC classification, COPD, cost, drugs. 1. Introduction Most Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients suffer from other chronic medical conditions as well. 1,2 These conditions that are common at any severity of COPD 3 are called comorbidities. Frequent comorbidities of patients with COPD include arthritis, cardiac disorders, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, lipid disorders, psychiatric conditions, gastrointestinal diseases, cancer, and osteoporosis (Table 1). Although it is widely accepted that COPD is associated with certain comorbidities the precise prevalence varies largely among epidemiological studies. 2 Table 1. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and the prevalence of common comorbidities (%) Source n Arthritis Cardiac HTN Diabetes Lipids Psych GI Cancer Osteoporosis van Manen and colleagues (4) 1,145 36 13 23 5 — 9 15 6 — Mapel and colleagues (5) 200 22 65 45 12 — 17 32 18 — Soriano and colleagues (6) 2,699 28 22 — — — 10 26 4 — Sidney and colleagues (7) 45,97 — 18 18 2 9 — — — — Walsh and Thomashow (8) 3 70 50 52 16 51 38 62 4 32 Definition of abbreviations: — = no available data; GI = gastrointestinal disturbances; HTN = hypertension