Health care utilization and its determinants among sickle cell disease patients attending outpatient clinic at Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital Sokoto

Abstract

Background: Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is associated with high utilization of healthcare services owing to the multitude of medical and  surgical complications as well as comorbidities linked to the condition, which place a signiicant inancial burden on healthcare resources, particularly due to recurrent episodes of vaso-occlusive crisis.

Aim:To determine the health care utilization and its determinants among sickle cell disease patients attending outpatient clinic at Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital Sokoto. (UDUTH)

Materials and Methods: The study was conducted at UDUTH in Sokoto and involved the use of sociodemographic, clinical, and healthcare utilization (HCU) questionnaires.

Results: The rate of hospitalization was 1.51 standard deviations (SD) ± 2.31 days, while the number of days hospitalized was 10.89 SD ±  23.96 days per year. Emergency care visits transpired at a rate of 1.39 SD ± 2.83 days per year., while Day Care Visits averaged 4.82 SD ±  7.98 days per year. Marital status (p=0.009) and level of education (p=0.036) were signiicantly associated with high HCU. Level of  education was a statistically signiicant predictor (p=0.019).

Conclusion: The indings indicated high healthcare utilization among the SCD patients. Furthermore, the researchers identiied low level of  education as a signiicant determinant of high healthcare utilization within this patient cohort.