This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
RA negatively impacted HRQoL, financial burden of Canadian patients
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Rheumatoid arthritis had a negative impact on the health-related quality of life and was a significant financial burden on patients with the disease, according to study results.
Researchers in Ontario, Canada, identified 233 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA; mean age, 58.9 years; 75.5% women) from the records of 29,797 adult Ontarians participating in the Canadian Community Health Survey cycle 1.1 (2000/2001) and a physician claims database. A control group (n=699) without RA was matched by age, gender and rural status. Socio-demographic variables, medical characteristics, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and 1-year physician services, hospitalizations and day procedure costs were determined for both cohorts.
Patients with RA were more likely to be obese (22.8% vs. 16.5%), less educated (27% college educated vs. 45.7%), physically inactive (65.5% vs. 57.1%) and have lower income ($23,717 vs. $32,434) than controls. In addition to having RA, patients also declared having been diagnosed with an average of 2.8 other medical conditions compared with an average of 2.5 total conditions per control patient (P<.0001).
In HRQoL, patients with RA had a mean Health Utility Index-3 (HUI) score of 0.66 compared with 0.84 for controls (P<.0001). Annual combined costs (physician services, hospitalizations and day procedures) for RA patients were statistically higher compared with controls ($1,391 vs. $899 in 2001/2002 CN dollars). Costs associated with physicians ($1,015 vs. $624) and day procedures ($102 vs. $51) also were greater among patients with RA, while no statistical differences were observed between groups for hospitalizations.
“The results emphasize the tremendous humanistic and economic burden of RA in Ontario,” the researchers concluded. “The data generated in this study can also be used to inform decision models and policies or programs to reduce or contain the burden of RA in Canada.”
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts