Estimates of economic burden of providing inpatient care in childhood rotavirus gastroenteritis from Malaysia.

Aim: To estimate the cost of an episode of inpatient care and the economic burden of hospitalisation for childhood rotavirus gastroenteritis (GE) in Malaysia.

Methods: A 12-month prospective, hospital-based study on children less than 14 years of age with rotavirus GE, admitted to University of Malaya Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, was conducted in 2002. Data on human resource expenditure, costs of investigations, treatment and consumables were collected.