Regional and national differences in stroke thrombolysis use and disparities in pricing, treatment availability, and coverage

Faculty of Medicine

Assiut University

Regional and national differences in stroke thrombolysis use and disparities in pricing, treatment availability, and coverage

Research Authors
Ana Claudia de Souza, Ivy Anne Sebastian, Wan Asyraf Wan Zaidi, Ahmed Nasreldein, Danira Bazadona, Pablo Amaya, Ahmed Elkady, Meron Awraris Gebrewold, Pongpat Vorasayan, Nune Yeghiazaryan, Patrik Michel, Pooja Khatri, Jeyaraj Durai Pandian, Sheila Cristin
Research Date
Research Journal
International Journal of Stroke
Research Member
Ahmed Nasreldein Mohamed Ali
Research Year
2022
Research Abstract

Background

Major disparities have been reported in recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rtPA) availability among countries of different socioeconomic status.

Aims

To characterize variability of rtPA price, its availability, and its association with and impact on each country’s health expenditure (HE) resources.

Methods

We conducted a global survey to obtain information on rtPA price (50 mg vial, 2020 US Dollars) and availability. Country-specific data, including low, lower middle (LMIC), upper middle (UMIC), and high-income country (HIC) classifications, and gross domestic product (GDP) and HE, both nominally and adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP), were obtained from World Bank Open Data. To assess the impact of rtPA cost, we computed the rtPA price as percentage of per capita GDP and HE and examined its association with the country income classification.