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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Med.
Sec. Family Medicine and Primary Care
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2024.1478412
This article is part of the Research Topic Clinical, Health Services and Legal Dimensions in Older Adult Care: A Focus on the Middle Eastern and Northern African Region View all articles

Determinants of out-of-pocket expenditure on medicines among adults in Saudi Arabia: A cross sectional study

Provisionally accepted
Mohammed K. Al-Hanawi Mohammed K. Al-Hanawi 1*Mpho Keetile Mpho Keetile 2
  • 1 King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
  • 2 University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    To achieve universal health coverage consistent with World Health Organization recommendations, monitoring financial protection is vital, even in the context of free medical care. Toward this end, this study investigated out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditure on medicines and their determinants among adults in Saudi Arabia. This analysis was based on cross-sectional data derived from the Family Health Survey conducted by the General Authority for Statistics in 2018. Data analyses for this study were based on the total sample of 10,785 respondents. Descriptive statistics were used to identify the sample distribution for all variables included in the study. Tobit regression analysis was used to examine the determinants of OOP expenditure on medicines. The average OOP expenditure on medicines was estimated to be 279.69 Saudi Riyal in the sampled population. Tobit regression analysis showed that age, average household monthly income, education level, and suffering a chronic condition were the main determinants of OOP expenditure on medicines. Conversely, being married and employed were associated with a lower probability of OOP expenditure on medicines. This study could assist policy makers to provide additional insurance funding and benefits to reduce the possibility of catastrophic OOP expenditure on medicines, especially for the most vulnerable demographic.

    Keywords: determinants, Expenditure, Out-of-pocket, Medicines, Saudi Arabia

    Received: 09 Aug 2024; Accepted: 18 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Al-Hanawi and Keetile. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Mohammed K. Al-Hanawi, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

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