Improving Accessibility to Patients with Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD): Barriers to Early Diagnosis and Timely Treatment in Latin America

Ricardo G. Figueiredo (), Nathalia Filgueiras Vilaça Duarte, Daniela Carla Barbosa Campos, Manuel de Jesus Diaz Verduzco, Ángel Alemán Márquez, Gabriela Tannus Branco de Araujo and Adalberto Sperb Rubin
Additional contact information
Ricardo G. Figueiredo: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Saúde Coletiva, Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana (UEFS), Feira de Santana 44036-900, Brazil
Nathalia Filgueiras Vilaça Duarte: Boehringer Ingelheim do Brasil Química e Farmacêutica, São Paulo 04794-000, Brazil
Daniela Carla Barbosa Campos: Boehringer Ingelheim do Brasil Química e Farmacêutica, São Paulo 04794-000, Brazil
Manuel de Jesus Diaz Verduzco: Hospital Regional “Dr. Manuel Cardenas de la Vega”, Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado (ISSSTE), Culiacán Rosales 80230, Mexico
Ángel Alemán Márquez: Hospital Naval de Especialidades de Veracruz, Hospital Español Veracruz, Universidad del Valle de México (UVM), UNAM Campus Veracruz, Veracruz 91700, Mexico
Gabriela Tannus Branco de Araujo: Axiabio Life Sciences International, São Paulo 04038-032, Brazil
Adalberto Sperb Rubin: Santa Casa Hospital Porto Alegre/UFCSPA, Porto Alegre 90035-074, Brazil

IJERPH, 2024, vol. 21, issue 5, 1-15

Abstract: Delayed initiation of effective antifibrotic therapy in patients with interstitial lung diseases (ILD) may influence the progression and outcome of the disease. This study analyzes the differences in the journey of patients with ILD in the Brazilian and Mexican health systems. An evaluative study was conducted in reference centers for interstitial lung diseases in Brazil and Mexico with a panel of four specialists. The patient’s journey in both countries begins when the patient seeks medical care after observing a chronic respiratory symptom. In both countries, due to diagnostic complexity, these patients arrive at ILD referral centers at an advanced stage of the disease. Once diagnosis is established, the treatment onset differs between Mexico and Brazil. In Brazil, access to antifibrotic drugs through the public health system has been a significant challenge, and their cost makes them unaffordable for most people. This situation forces medical specialists to provide only supportive care to patients until these drugs can be accessed. In Mexico, antifibrotics have been available in health sectors since 2018. Brazil and Mexico have several similarities regarding the initial journey of the patient due to diagnosis difficulties. Still, the outcome tends to be different due to a difference in access to treatment with antifibrotics. For this reason, advancing health policies that ensure proper treatment for patients with ILD is crucial for the sustainability and reliability of the health system.

Keywords: interstitial lung diseases; patient journey; Latin America (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/5/647/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/5/647/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:21:y:2024:i:5:p:647-:d:1397705

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().