Introduction
Asthma is considered one of the major health problems in Cuba. Global estimates reflect the high costs generated due to the substantial resources required to care for patients and it is a health field little studied in our country.
Objective
To estimate the most significant direct costs from the institutional standpoint for health care asthmatic patients during the period 2008–2011 and its comparison with the economic amount representing the national health budget.
Methods
A partial economic evaluation of the cost description type was performed. This analysis allowed to estimate the total amount of the annual direct costs and average costs per patient for the disease in time analyzed and compared to the amount of the national health budget.
Results
The direct costs for the care of asthma patients are distributed with a greater share of family doctor consultations, drug therapies, hospital discharges, consultations of emergency wards, polyclinics and hospitals. The amounts of these expenses represent less than 1% of the amount of the annual budget of the health sector.
Conclusions
An estimate of the economic burden of the disease by the National Health System was performed for the first time, for a period of four years and its economic amount compared with the national health budget.