Cost Implications of Oral Lesions Found in HIV/AIDS

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the cost implications of five oral lesions commonly associated with HIV/AIDS. The objectives of this study are to: determine the cost of the prescribed treatment plan, compare the Teaching hospital costs with the general practice costs and determine the average cost per visit. METHOD: The study sites were the University of Western Cape Oral Health Centre (U.W.C.), Day Hospital Mitchell’s Plain (D.H.M.), and Somerset Hospital, Cape Town. The sample was selected from a list of 181 HIV patients in the attendance registers consisting of all patients who attended from 1st of January 1997 to July 31st 2000 (36 months) and had one or more oral HIV lesions. Using a data capture sheet, only the 124 records with history of treatment for oral HIV/AIDS lesions were selected. RESULT: The number of visits ranged from 1 to 10 times with the modal group being patients who had visited the dentist 1-3 times (72.6%). There were 60 (48.4%) female and 57 (46.0%) males with a significant difference in total hospital cost among them (p=0.02). There was a significant association between the number of hospital visits and the total cost of treatment (p=0.00). There was no significant association between staging of the disease and the hospital cost (p=0.24) but the CD4 count significantly influenced the hospital cost (p=0.02). CONCLUSION: Home-based care may help to reduce treatment costs and should be considered in view of the high costs of treating the oral manifestations of HIV/AIDS.