Resumen

FERNANDEZ GARCIA, Ariana; GALVEZ GONZALEZ, Ana María  y  CASTILLO GUZMAN, Antonio. Institutional cost of acute myocardial infarction at the Institute of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery. Rev Cubana Salud Pública [online]. 2008, vol.34, n.4. ISSN 0864-3466.

Introduction To improve the health indicators is the whole society´s task in which the control and rational use of resources allocated to the health care system are necessary. Objectives To determine the institutional cost of the acute myocardial infarction affecting patients who are cared for by the Institute of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery in 2006. Methods A retrospective cost description-type study was conducted. The methodological approach was the cost of disease. These costs were classified into direct, total and average/unit costs and given in inconvertible Cuban pesos for the year 2006. The analysis perspective was institutional. The universe of study was composed by 88 patients. The calculation of the total institutional cost took into consideration the following variables: drug cost, diagnostic means cost, salary cost, curing materials cost and other services cost. Results The total institutional cost of the care to a patient with acute myocardial infarction was 470 272.92 Cuban pesos, with a unit cost per day/patient of 508.95 pesos and an average cost per number of patients of 5 344.02 pesos. Conclusions The total cost of care to a patient with acute myocardial infarction for the Institute of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery was fundamentally represented by the length of time devoted to care for the patient, the number of required highly qualified professionals and technicians to manage the disease and the therapies used.

Palabras clave : Cost of disease; acute myocardial infarction; risk factors; health economy.