Costs were discounted at 5%. Some costs and quantities were reported separately. Medical costs included the costs of:
a) stroke prevention (including drug costs, complete blood counts during first three months of therapy, and the side effects of treatment);
b) stroke treatment (inpatient costs, daily follow up visits and discharge services). It was assumed that 6.8%patients would alsoreceive inpatient rehabilitation services.
c) during the remainder of their lives, stroke survivors were assumed to incur related costs of nursing home care, outpatient visits and home health care costs.
Costs were based on actual data (published and unpublished official data). All hospital costs were based on average Medicare charges for the appropriate diagnostic related group. The estimation of drug costs was based on an informal survey of retail prices of several pharmacies in the Boston, Mass., area. Final costs were estimated using a decision tree. Costs were reflated to 1991 using the Consumer Price Index produced by the Bureau of Labour Statistics (unpublished data).