Cost of care for patients with rheumatoid arthritis receiving TNF-antagonist therapy using claims data

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Objective: To compare the cost of care for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients treated with adalimumab, infliximab, and etanercept.Research design and methods: RA patients were identified from a privately insured database. Three mutually exclusive treatment cohorts were formed based on the date of first tumor necrosis factor (TNF) antagonist treatment (index date) after January 1, 2003. Baseline characteristics were assessed in the 3-month pretreat­ment period. Healthcare (i.e., medical service and prescription medications) utilization and cost were assessed for the following 12 months. RA-related medical cost included the total cost for medical service associated with RA diagnosis. RA-related healthcare cost included RA-related medical and drug cost. Uneven distribution of baseline characteristics were adjusted with the propensity score method. Cost was compared between treatment cohorts.Results: Twelve-month TNF-antagonist therapy cost ($12 853 vs. 17 299, p = 0.002), total RA-related drug cost (...