PMID- 2371142
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 19900817
LR  - 20131121
IS  - 0277-0008 (Print)
IS  - 0277-0008 (Linking)
VI  - 10
IP  - 3
DP  - 1990
TI  - The pharmacoeconomics of renal transplantation: increased drug costs with 
      decreased hospitalization costs.
PG  - 205-10
AB  - We evaluated the economic and clinical effects of two immunosuppressive drug 
      regimens used to treat recipients of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-identical 
      sibling donor renal transplants during the first posttransplant year. We compared 
      consecutive patients in two groups of 30 who were given either antilymphoblast 
      globulin (ALG), azathioprine, plus prednisone or cyclosporine, azathioprine, and 
      prednisone for immunosuppression. We standardized all dollar values, costs and 
      charges, to the 1986 level using our hospital's health care charge inflation 
      rate. There were no significant differences between the two treatment groups for 
      actual patient (100% vs 93%; p = 0.51) and graft survival rates (100% vs 93%; p = 
      0.51), average serum creatinine level (1.0 +/- 0.3 vs 1.0 +/- 0.2 mg%; p = 0.46), 
      and most recent creatinine level (1.4 +/- 0.3 vs 1.4 +/- 0.7 mg%; p = 0.45). The 
      average cyclosporine-azathioprine-prednisone costs were $3987/patient more for 
      the first year of therapy than for ALG-azathioprine-prednisone. However, the 
      former regimen produced an average of $9543/patient less in total hospitalization 
      charges. This was due to both a shorter initial hospital stay and a decreased 
      rate of rehospitalization, with a lower frequency of acute rejection episodes (p 
      = 0.001) and infectious complications (p = 0.05). We conclude that, although this 
      cyclosporine-containing protocol was associated with increased drug costs, it is 
      justified by decreased hospitalization charges that resulted from improved 
      efficacy and safety.
FAU - Canafax, D M
AU  - Canafax DM
AD  - Department of Pharmacy Practice, School of Medicine, University of Minnesota, MN 
      55455.
FAU - Gruber, S A
AU  - Gruber SA
FAU - Chan, G L
AU  - Chan GL
FAU - Miles, C J
AU  - Miles CJ
FAU - Matas, A J
AU  - Matas AJ
FAU - Najarian, J S
AU  - Najarian JS
FAU - Cipolle, R J
AU  - Cipolle RJ
LA  - eng
GR  - AM-13083/AM/NIADDK NIH HHS/United States
GR  - RR-00400/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/United States
PT  - Comparative Study
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
PT  - Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
PL  - United States
TA  - Pharmacotherapy
JT  - Pharmacotherapy
JID - 8111305
RN  - 0 (Cyclosporins)
RN  - 0 (HLA Antigens)
RN  - 0 (Immunosuppressive Agents)
RN  - MRK240IY2L (Azathioprine)
RN  - VB0R961HZT (Prednisone)
SB  - IM
MH  - Azathioprine/therapeutic use
MH  - Cost Allocation/economics
MH  - Cyclosporins/therapeutic use
MH  - HLA Antigens/administration & dosage
MH  - Hospitalization/*economics
MH  - Humans
MH  - Immunosuppressive Agents/*therapeutic use
MH  - Kidney Transplantation/*economics
MH  - Prednisone/therapeutic use
EDAT- 1990/01/01 00:00
MHDA- 1990/01/01 00:01
CRDT- 1990/01/01 00:00
PHST- 1990/01/01 00:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 1990/01/01 00:01 [medline]
PHST- 1990/01/01 00:00 [entrez]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Pharmacotherapy. 1990;10(3):205-10.