The impact of clinical and nonclinical factors on costs of Multiple Sclerosis in Khuzestan Province 2012

Abstract Introduction: Multiple sclerosis is a chronic and autoimmune disorder that imposes many direct and indirect costs on patients. Costs are affected by clinical and nonclinical factors. The aim of this study is to revise the impact of clinical and nonclinical factors on expenses of multiple sclerosis. Materials & Methods: This study is cross sectional in nature. In this study after considering the exclusion criteria, 332 patients were studied in Khuzestan Province in 2012. Data were gathered through questionnaire during a 3-month period. Data were analyzed by SPSS.18 through statistics tests: x^2, Coefficient correlation and ANOVA. Results: The results showed that 70.5 percent of patients were female. Mean of disease duration was 3.3±2.1 year. 30 percent of patients had inpatient record in hospital. Clinical forms of patients were: 92.1 percent RR, 3.6 percent SP and 3.3 percent PP. approximately 21.1percent of costs were due to transportation services (Rial 607712 per patient per month) and 22 percent of costs were due to medications (Rial 631605 per patient per month) that the largest share was assigned to them. In this study, gender of the patients and disability stages had a substantial correlation. Conclusion: Findings of current study showed that clinical and nonclinical factors had impact on costs of Multiple Sclerosis. Keywords: Multiple Sclerosis, Direct cost, Indirect cost.