Gastos de bolsillo de pacientes con diagnóstico de dengue en Medellín y Montería, Colombia

Introduction. It is estimated that 40% of patients with dengue require medical attention and work incapacity between five and seven days; situation that forces patients to incur out-of-pocket expenses. objective. Recognize the out of pocket expenses of patients diagnosed with dengue in Medellin and Monteria. materials and methods. Observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study. 75 patients with dengue were admitted between July 2016 and December 2017, a survey was applied to know the out of pocket expenses that they assumed during the diagnosis and recovery of the disease. To the variables expressed as ratio their mean standard deviation was estimated, and proportions were calculated for the measurements at nominal and ordinal levels. results. 75 patients were included, the average age 36.6 years. 74.6% of participants belonged to social status 1, 2 and 3, 56% were in the contributory regime of the Social Security Health System and only 20% required hospitalization. The most frequent expenses were value of the visit, medicines, income not received due to disability and accompaniment, with the unearned income and drugs being the most expenses, with a median of 200 thousand and 25 thousand Colombian pesos, respectively. conclusions. Out of pocket expenses incurred by patients can represent between 9 and 45% of their income; which means that for some families, dengue behaves like a catastrophic event. The main costs are hospitalization and work disability.