Chronic fatigue links to increased cost among patients with IBD

ByKate Burba

Fatigue associated with increased healthcare use and cost among patients with inflammatory bowel disease, according to a presentation at Digestive Disease Week.

“Fatigue is an important clinical problem in patients with IBD and is a much under-studied topic. Prior studies have shown that fatigue can affect up to 40% to 80% of patients with IBD,” Ashwin Ananthakrishnan, MBBS, MPH, Massachusetts General Hospital, said. “The increasing prevalence of fatigue in patients with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis has resulted in escalation of the economic burden on payers, patients and society. Despite its prevalence, there have not been prior studies that have attempted to quantify its economic burden.”

In a retrospective, nested case-control study, researchers investigated all-cause resource use and IBD-related resource use among 42,642 patients (mean age 46 years; 60% women) newly diagnosed with IBD. They further used propensity score matching (1:1) to compare patients with cases of fatigue (n = 21,321) vs. control patients without fatigue (n = 21,321).

During the 1-year follow-up period, cases had higher all-cause hospitalizations (0.28 vs. 0.14; IRR = 1.92) and all-cause outpatient visits (17.64 vs. 10.76; IRR = 1.64) as well as IBD-related hospitalizations (0.14 vs. 0.08; IRR = 1.89) and IBD-related outpatient visits (2.37 vs. 1.67; IRR = 1.42). Patients with fatigue also incurred higher all-cause total direct healthcare costs ($24,620 vs. $15,324) and IBD-related direct healthcare costs ($10,872 vs. $7,502). Researchers noted consistent findings among cases with CD and UC as well as cases with moderate to severe disease compared with mild disease.

“Patients with IBD who experience fatigue incurred higher all-costs, IBD-related healthcare utilization and associated direct costs compared to those without fatigue,” Ananthakrishnan concluded. “Fatigue is associated with significant economic burden and warrants more awareness and management.”

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Source:

Ananthakrishnan A, et al. Abstract 103. Presented at: Digestive Disease Week; May 21-23, 2021 (virtual meeting).

Disclosures: Ananthakrishnan reports receiving funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health and Pfizer and serving on scientific advisory boards for Gilead. Please see the study for all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.

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Chronic fatigue links to increased cost among patients with IBD

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