ICU-related Out of Pocket Expenses (ICOPE)

The ICU-related Out-of-Pocket Expenses (ICOPE) study is a multinational, prospective observational study conducted in African and Asian countries to quantify ICU-related out-of-pocket expenditures and catastrophic health expenditure among patients and families. The study will include all patients admitted to participating ICUs during a predefined 14-day recruitment window, provided they have an ICU stay longer than 24 hours and informed consent is obtained. A minimum sample size of 354 patients is planned, including both ventilated and non-ventilated patients. Participants will be followed until ICU discharge, with additional follow-up at 30 days and 6 months after admission, resulting in a total study duration of 18 months. The primary objective is to quantify ICU-related out-of-pocket costs and assess the proportion of patients experiencing catastrophic health expenditure, comparing ventilated and non-ventilated groups, while secondary objectives include identifying risk factors for catastrophic expenditure and documenting coping strategies used by families to manage ICU costs.

NCT Number	NCT07439692
Lead Sponsor	Nat Intensive Care Surveillance - MORU Collaborators: Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Nepal Intensive Care Research Foundation, Critical Care Society of Kenya, Research, Education And Criticalcare Health Trust, Pakistan, Association of Anesthesiologists of Uganda (AAU), Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (KCCR), Doctors with Africa - CUAMM
Conditions	Cost of ICU, Out of Pocket Expenses
Enrollment	354 participants
Start Date	2024-12-01
Primary Completion	2026-02-28 (estimated)
Study Completion	2026-07-31 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2026-02-27