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Cost burden of COPD increased significantly over 10 years

Patients with COPD, on average, incurred more than two times higher direct medical costs than people without COPD during a 10-year period, according to study results.

Amir Khakban, MSc, a research analyst at the University of British Columbia, and colleagues used British Columbia’s administrative health data to compile a cohort of patients with COPD and a matched comparison of participants without COPD to determine the excess costs of COPD and its trend from 2001 to 2010 in British Columbia.

Khakban and colleagues identified 153,570 people with COPD and another 246,801 without COPD.

The participants within the COPD cohort had an average of $8,600 per year in direct medical costs. Whereas, the participants in the group without COPD had an average of $3,148 per year in direct medical costs.

The researchers noted the adjusted excess costs of COPD as $5,452 per year and that excess costs associated with the care of patients with COPD increased by $296 per year per patient (P < .01).

The researchers identified the two primary excess costs as hospital admissions (56.7% of total excess costs) and cost of medications (21.7%).

Excess costs also increased as the participants’ age increased. Participants aged 35 to 44 years had an excess cost of $4,468 per year compared with $6,720 in participants aged 85 years and older.

The researchers wrote as to what needs to happen for the excess costs to decrease in the future.

“The concerning trends observed in this study will not change without systemic and coordinated attempts that target the entire pathway of COPD care from risk factor modification to early diagnosis and better disease management,” the researchers wrote. – by Ryan McDonald

Disclosure: Khakban reports no relevant financial disclosures. Please see the full study for a list of all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.