Abstract

RIVERON CORTEGUERA, Raúl L; FEBLES DEL TORO, Jorge  and  SUAREZ MARTINEZ, René. Costos por medicamentos en la hidratación del paciente con diarreas, 1975 y 1989. Rev Cubana Salud Pública [online]. 1996, vol.22, n.2, pp. 6-7. ISSN 1561-3127.

A retrospective and comparative study of the costs by drugs used for hydrating those patients dehydrated due to acute diarrheal disease was conducted. The study included the analysis of 400 clinical histories of patients discharged from the Service of Diarrheal Diseases of the Pediatric Hospital of Centro Habana in 1975 and in 1989. The sample was taken at random, taking into account the total of discharges registered every year. Clinical histories were divided into two groups of 200 patients under 3 each in order to carry out the study. Data were collected in a survey model and were validated by using the Program EPI-5. Congruence tables were made and chi square (X²) was calculated with its degrees of freedom and level of statistical significance (p). Results are shown in the tables and figures. The most remarkable result of this investigation is the obtention of a reduction of 71.8 % in the costs resulting from drugs used for hydration. If it is applied to the whole country there will be a reduction of thousands of pesos only with the utilization of this new technology.

Keywords : DIARRHEA INFANTILE [economics]; DIARRHEA INFANTILE [therapy]; FLUID THERAPY [economics]; RETROSPECTIVE STUDIES.