Comparison of direct medical cost between ramipril and candesartan in hospitalized acute decompensated heart failure at West Nusa Tenggara Regional Hospital

Introduction: Pharmacoeconomy is the field of study regarding costs analysis associated with the use of drugs in health care. The purpose of pharmacoeconomics is to compare a different drug used in the treatment with the same condition or can be the opposite, i.e. comparing different treatments in different circumstances. The purpose of this study is to determine and compare the average efficiency of direct medical costs between ramipril and candesartan combination drug in hospitalized heart failure patients with a payer perspective at the West Nusa Tenggara Regional General Hospital, Mataram, Indonesia.Method: This study is part of an economic evaluation of direct medical cost analysis research in hospitalized heart failure patients with a payer perspective. Study design using a retrospective approach involving 45 patients with heart failure who met the study inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria. Independent t-test was used to compare the direct medical cost between ramipril and candesartan.Results: The average gross total cost of using ramipril combination was Rp. 4,197,011 while the average total cost of using candesartan combination was Rp. 3,099,088. These results indicate there are savings in the average total cost of treatment for heart failure using candesartan that is Rp. 1,097,923. Candesartan combination provides the lowest value and is a more efficient choice compared to ramipril combination. Meanwhile, after t-test comparison reveal no significant different average direct medical costs in patients using the ramipril combination compared with the candesartan combination (p>0.05).Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that there is no significant difference between the average direct medical costs in patients using ramipril compared with candesartan combination.