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Health care costs increased among patients with musculoskeletal conditions

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Compared with other diseases, health care costs were higher for patients with musculoskeletal conditions, according to study results presented at the 2014 European League Against Rheumatism Annual Congress.

Researchers had 8,904 patients complete a questionnaire on sociodemographic and lifestyle factors, self-reported physician-diagnosed diseases and health care use. Accounting for inflation by Consumer Price Index, the researchers computed health care costs (HCC) for a 3-month period using reference prices of the Dutch manual for pharmaco-economic health care evaluations 2010. Zero-inflated negative bionomial regression models were used to compute the association between the number of diseases and total HCC and which disease or combination of diseases was associated with the largest increase of HCC, using healthy individuals as a reference point.

Overall, the researchers found 20% of cases included musculoskeletal conditions, and multimorbidity was present in 19% of the cases. As the number of morbidities increased, so did HCC, according to study results. Whether occurring alone or as a comorbid disease, musculoskeletal conditions were associated with higher HCC compared with any other condition, the researchers found.

“It is clear that the cost of delivering care to those patients with musculoskeletal conditions is considerably higher than those with other diseases,” study author Anjte Van Der Zee-Neuen, PhD, of the division of rheumatology at Maastricht University, the Netherlands, stated in a press release from the Congress. “In these economically challenging times, this research highlights a clear area of focus for policy makers where prioritization of musculoskeletal disorders could result in longer-term cost efficiencies.”

References:

Van der Zee-Neuen A. Abstract #OP0197. Presented at: the European League Against Rheumatism Annual Congress; June 11-14, 2014; Paris.

Disclosure: The authors have no relevant financial disclosures.