Indirect cost of maternal death and potential years of life lost to society

Abstract

Objectives:  to estimate the indirect cost of maternal death from the perspective of society.

Methods:  A cost-of-disease study was conducted using the human capital approach, which imputes as a productivity cost the lost earnings for each woman due to premature death and the potential years of life lost (PYLL) based on life expectancy at birth. All maternal deaths of residents of the First Macroregion of Pernambuco that occurred in 2012 and 2017 were included, extracted from the Mortality Information System, post investigation and discussed by the Maternal Mortality Comitee. PYLLs were calculated, as were costs based on the average nominal per capita income for the region in Brazilian currency, Real (R$), later converted to US Dollars (US$) and International Dollars. The cost of lost productivity was adjusted by the discount rate (3%) to obtain the net present value.

Results:  there were 119 maternal deaths, 59 in 2012, with 2,532 PYLL, with an indirect cost of US$ 24,681,888.92. In 2017, there were 60 maternal deaths, 2,395 PYLLs, with an indirect cost of US$ 18,326,149.33. Applying the discount rate, the value rose to US$ 31,605,158.76 (2012) and US$ 23,991,984.31 (2017).

Conclusion:  maternal mortality causes high economic losses to society and increases PYLL, findings that are relevant to the management of policies aimed at women’s health in the pregnancy and postpartum cycle.

Key words
Cost and cost analysis; Maternal mortality; Life value; Potential years of life lost; Health evaluation