THE COSTS OF TREATING FEBRILE NEUTROPENIA IN PATIENTS WITH MALIGNANT BLOOD DISORDERS

Retrospective data were collected over a 1-year period from the medica l records of patients admitted to a district general hospital, either with febrile neutropenia or who developed this complication whilst rec eiving inpatient chemotherapy. Costs were calculated for inpatient sta y, drug treatment and diagnostic tests. The median total costs for 46 episodes of febrile neutropenia were 2068.35 Pounds and the median tot al cost per day was 139.41 Pounds. Inpatient bed-days accounted for 57 .8% of total costs, followed by drug treatment at 25.8% and diagnostic tests at 16.4%. The costs of blood products were excluded since they are frequently administered irrespective of the neutropenia. This stud y serves as a useful pointer to the expenditure in measurable antibiot ic costs and investigations in patients with malignant blood disorders who develop febrile neutropenia.