The impact of age and sex on healthcare expenditure of households in Bangladesh

The impact of age and sex on health care expenditure has recently become one of the major concerns in many developing countries like Bangladesh. Age and sex differences in the use of health care services can be substantial at several stages of life which are reflected in overall healthcare expenditure. We examined the impact of age and sex of the population on overall healthcare expenditure of households in Bangladesh. A total of 10,705 populations who spent for receiving any type of healthcare services were analyzed from Bangladesh Household Income and Expenditure Survey data, 2010. Sex and age group were considered as childhood (0-19), young adult (20-39), middle-aged adult (40-64), senior aged (65-84) and old senior aged (84+) for the entire analysis. Total healthcare expenditure was derived by considering direct cost such as physician's fee, cost of medicine, diagnostic, transportation, tips and informal payment etc. Indirect and intangible cost was not considered in the analysis. The study found that overall health care expenditure of male (US$ 11.5) is higher than female (US$ 11.2) while this is higher for female (US$ 14.2) than male (US$ 11.3) in the reproductive age. The highest health expenditure was observed in male (US$ 69.7) of age 65-69 years and in female (US$ 23.4) of age 75-79 years. The cost for hospitalization was significantly higher (US $23.7) for female than male (US$ 21.1). Overall health expenditure was observed to be significantly higher in elderly than younger people. These findings provide an experimental framework for the continuing inquiry of equity in the allocation of health care expenditure between male and female at different age, which suggest current health care system in Bangladesh place a significant financial strain on the elderly population.