TY - JOUR T1 - Investigating households’ out-of-pocket healthcare expenditures based on number of chronic conditions in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional study using quantile regression approach JF - BMJ Open JO - BMJ Open DO - 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-066145 VL - 12 IS - 9 SP - e066145 AU - Ziyad S Almalki AU - Abdullah K Alahmari AU - Ahmed M Alshehri AU - Abdulaziz Altowaijri AU - Mohammed Alluhidan AU - Nehad Ahmed AU - Abdulhakim S AlAbdulsalam AU - Khalid H Alsaiari AU - Meshari A Alrashidi AU - Abdulrahman G Alghusn AU - Ali S Alqahtani AU - Abdulaziz I Alzarea AU - Mona A Alanazi AU - Abdulhadi M Alqahtani Y1 - 2022/09/01 UR - http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/12/9/e066145.abstract N2 - Objectives This study investigated the level and associated factors, focusing on the number of individuals with chronic conditions, of out-of-pocket healthcare expenditures (OOPHE).Design A cross-sectional study was conducted from January 2021 to June 2021.Setting Riyadh Province, Saudi Arabia.Participants A total of 1176 households that used any healthcare services at least once in the past 3 months.Outcome measures The OOPHE incurred in the previous 3-month period when a household member is receiving health services. The effects of predisposing, enabling and need factors on the level of OOPHE. The association between the number of individuals with chronic conditions in a household and OOPHE along with the OOPHE distribution.Results The average household OOPHE among all the surveyed households (n=1176) was SAR1775.30. For households affected by one chronic condition, OOPHE was SAR1806, and for households affected by more than one chronic condition, OOPHE was SAR2704. If the head of the household was older, better educated and employed, they were more vulnerable to a higher OOPHE (p<0.0001). At the household level, the increased number of family members with chronic conditions, the presence of a member less than 14 years old, higher socioeconomic status, coverage from health insurance plans, residence in an urban area and the presence of a member with a disability in the household were correlated with a considerably greater level of OOPHE (p<0.0001). The result of quantile regression analysis indicates that an increase in the number of members with chronic conditions in a household was significantly associated with greater overall OOPHE at higher health expenditure quantiles.Conclusions The burden of OOPHE on households with chronic conditions remains heavy, and some disparities still exist. The number of individuals with chronic conditions in a household plays a substantial and prominent role in increasing the risk of incurring OOPHE.Data are available upon reasonable request. ER -