Dispensing of exceptional drugs for chronic renal failure: expenditures and patients' profile in Minas Gerais State, Brazil

In Brazil, medicines for treatment of chronic renal failure are available free of cost from the Unified National Health System (SUS). This study's objectives were to describe government spending on these drugs in Minas Gerais State, Brazil, and the patients' profile, as well as to analyze the factors associated with individual average monthly costs. Spending on medication for chronic renal failure (R$ 41.6 million, or U$25 million) represents a significant portion of total spending on outpatient procedures in the National health System (9.6%). Most patients are young adult males with arterial hypertension as the main cause of chronic renal failure. Multivariate analysis showed a trend towards lower spending on elderly patients, those with diabetes as the main underlying disease, those using iron hydroxide, and in municipalities with a lower human development index, or HDI (p < 0.05). Finally, the study indicated the importance of management tools that allow monitoring the trajectory of individual patients in the health system and support appropriate health policymaking.