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Health care costs double for patients with asthma–COPD overlap syndrome

Health care costs for patients with both asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were double those of patients with asthma alone, according to study results.

Maria Gerhardsson de Verdier, MD, PhD, of the AstraZeneca Research & Development Mölndal at the Medical Evidence and Observational Research Centre in Mölndal, Sweden, and colleagues performed a retrospective analysis of large commercial health plans to identify patients aged at least 6 years with asthma who experienced at least one exacerbation event.

Researchers divided participants into two groups — those with asthma alone (n = 26,060), and those with asthma–COPD overlap syndrome (n = 6,505). Patients in each group were matched for sex, age, region, health plan type, index year and index month.

Results showed health care costs for patients with asthma–COPD overlap syndrome were significantly higher than for patients without COPD ($22,393 vs. $11,716; P < .0001).

Asthma costs, which accounted for 29% of total health care costs during the study period, were nearly double among patients with asthma–COPD overlap syndrome ($6,319 vs. $3,356; P < .0001), a finding the researchers attributed to an increase in inpatient hospitalizations (34% vs. 14.6%; P < .0001) or emergency department visits (29.6% vs. 19.9%; P < .0001).

“Patients with asthma and COPD had nearly double the health care costs as did patients with asthma without COPD,” Gerhardsson de Verdier and colleagues wrote. “The overall disease profile of patients with asthma should be considered when managing patients, rather than treating asthma as a solitary condition.” – by Jeff Craven

Disclosure: The researchers report employment with AstraZeneca and HealthCore Inc.