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Table 1 Base-case values of the model parameters

From: Economic burden in the management of transfusion-dependent thalassaemia patients in Malaysia from a societal perspective

Parameter Cost (USD)a Cost (MYR)b Value References
Iron chelation therapy
DFO (per gram) 10.81 44.00   [28]
DFX (per gram) 36.60 149.00  
DFP (per gram) 0.49 2.00  
Prescribed dosage (mg/kg/day)
DFO    47.4 [23]
DFX    24.6
DFP    75.0 [2]
Administration (monthly cost)
DFOc 96.80 393.98   [28]
DFX 0 0  
DFP 0 0  
Routine laboratory and instrumental monitoring test (monthly cost)
TDT patient < 10 years old 55.39 225.42   [29, 35]
TDT patient ≥ 10 years old 106.47 433.33  
Blood transfusion cost (per transfusion)
per millilitred 0.16 0.67   [3, 35]
Blood group and cross matching test 2.7 11  
Blood transfusion equipment 1.14 4.64  
Compliance (%)
DFO-DFP     [10]
 DFO arm    77.3
 DFP arm    90.3
DFX    98.1
Cost of IOL complications
Cardiac complication, year 1 536.36 2183.00   [31]
Cardiac complication, year 2+
Diabetes mellitus, year 1 323.10 1315.00   [34]
Diabetes mellitus, year 2+
Hypogonadism, year 1 175.40 713.88   [28, 35]
Hypogonadism, year 2+ 709.69 2888.42  
Hypoparathyroidism, year 1 128.72 523.88  
Hypoparathyroidism, year 2+ 580.41 2362.27  
Hypothyroidism, year 1 40.43 164.57  
Hypothyroidism, year 2+ 43.59 177.40  
Annual mortality with cardiac disease (%)    0.0062 [26]
Relative risk of death, TDT vs general population    3.9 [23]
  1. aPrice of 2019
  2. bUSD 1 = MYR 4.07 (currency conversion index of Feb 2019)
  3. cDFO administration includes: battery infusion pump, talaset (infusion port), syringe, WFI and alcohol swab
  4. dUnit cost of filtered red cell (FRC). Each pack of FRC = 300 ml (Malaysia Heath Technology Assessment Section Ministry of Health Malaysia, 2017)