A Survey of Health Services Cost Patterns in Iranian Elderly: A Systematic Review

Background and Objective: The Hospital expenditures and the growing the elderly population had an important role in increasing the health system expenditures. The purpose of this study was to determine the cost pattern of health services in Iranian elderly people. Materials and Methods: All descriptive and analytic studies done regarding the cost-benefit model of health services in the elderly of Iran, regardless of time and sex. International databases such as Medline, ISI, Scopus and national databases (SID), Magiran, IranDoc searched up until April 2018. Results: Out of 5492 studies, 10 studies had inclusion criteria and entered at the final analysis. The total sample size was 88450. Seventy percent of the reasons for referring the elderly to the hospitals were cardiovascular problems. The most expensive for treatment and hospitalization were gastrointestinal, respiratory and cancer diseases, ischemic heart disease and paraclinical diagnostic services and the highest spending was related to the 60-75 age group. Conclusion: Population aging in the coming years will have a serious challenge to the health and economics of the country. Given the greatest burden of illness and the cost of non-chronic and chronic diseases, the challenge has been to implement empowerment programs in the elderly, including self-care programs training and the strengthening and support of family care programs.