Evaluating Health Expenditure Trends and Disease Burden in India: A Cost per DALY Approach.

BACKGROUND: Efficient allocation of healthcare resources requires a comprehensive evaluation of healthcare spending and its impact on disease burden. This study aims to estimate the costs-per disability-adjusted life years (DALY) in India. Data from 2010 to 2019 on DALYs and health expenditure per capita (HEp) for individual states in India were utilised.

DESIGN AND METHODS: We followed the CHEERS statement 2022 to present our study's methodology and outcomes. Pearson's product-moment correlations were used to analyse associations between DALYs and HEp. A panel regression analysis was conducted using a log regression model to estimate changes in DALYs due to health expenditure changes. All costs are reported in Indian rupee (₹) along with its 95% CI, with a conversion factor of 1 US$ = ₹82.4 applied.

RESULTS: The costs-per-DALY were estimated for each state and India. DALY was negatively correlated with HEp. The estimated mean cost-per-DALY for India was ₹82,112 (₹55,810 to ₹1,08,413) [$997 ($667 to $1316)]. The mean cost per-DALY varied across states, with value of ₹27,058 (₹22,250 to ₹31,866) [$328 ($270 to $387)] for states in the first quartile based on Human Development Index (HDI) and ₹2,69,175 (₹1,05,946 to ₹4,32,404) [$3267 ($1286 to $5248)] for those in fourth HDI quartile. States such as Gujarat (0.16), Karnataka (0.17) and Maharashtra (0.22) have lower, and Arunachal Pradesh has the highest cost-per-DALY to Gross state domestic product per-capita ratio (2.41), followed by Nagaland (1.45).

CONCLUSION: Higher healthcare investment has a lower disease burden; however, reduction in DALY varies across states. Study findings provide evidence to aid the setting up of differential willingness-to-pay thresholds across Indian states for efficient and equitable healthcare resource allocation.