ESO East Supplement 2023 - 26

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European Stroke Journal 8(1S)
calculation of the costs. Available rehabilitation options
vary from short inpatient procedures to dedicated rehabilitation
facilities, contributing a wide variation in costs and
uncertainty around longer term outcomes. Cost estimation
was used equally regardless of the patient age, although in
the real-world younger patients are typically less severe
and incur less costs. Since this study is not interventional
there is of course a set of limitations that goes with the
methodological approach including estimations for many
inputs such as monitoring frequency, drug consumption
per specific type of patient etc.
Conclusion
The cost of stroke is a potentially underestimated factor in
healthcare cost, and along with post-stroke disability has a
crucial impact on life of stroke survivors and the healthcare
system that cares for them. Direct costing structure of
ischaemic stroke in Croatia is above the value of uppermiddle
income countries. The post-stroke rehabilitation
seems to be a strong modifier of future post-stroke costs
and further research into various models of post-stroke care
and rehabilitation could be the answer into more successful
rehabilitation that could increase QALY and reduce the
economic burden of stroke. Further investment in rehabilitation
research and provision might bring promising opportunities
to improve long term patient outcomes
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest
with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
article: VB expressed views strictly from the personal point of
view which does not reflect the position of Novartis Croatia where
she acts as an employee. VB is not included in selling or promoting
any of Novartis drugs. TN and MP have no financial conflict
of interest nor are they included in selling or promoting any drugs
or medicinal devices. HB received speaker fees from Bayer,
Berlin Chemie Menarini, Bohringer-Ingelheim and Pfizer. HB
was supported by project No. CA18118, IRENE COST Action
funded by COST Association, and ESO EAST project. AM
declare that there is no conflict of interest
Funding
The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship,
and/or publication of this article.
Ethical approval
Not applicable. Data analyses were carried out using fully
anonymised data from previously published literature.
Informed consent
Not applicable
Guarantor
HB
Contributorship
VB and HB were involved in protocol development. VB wrote the
first draft of the manuscript. HB and AM researched literature. TN
and MP were involved in data analysis. All authors reviewed and
edited the manuscript and approved the final version of the
manuscript
ORCID iDs
Andrija Meštrović
Hrvoje Budinčević
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2292-7926
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0184-8949
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https://www.orcid.org/0000-0003-2292-7926 https://www.orcid.org/0000-0002-0184-8949
ESO East Supplement 2023

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