Economic burden and co‐morbidities of atrial fibrillation in a privately insured population

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Abstract
Objective: This study assesses the direct (medical and drugs) and indirect (work loss) annual costs associated with Atrial Fibrillation (AFIB) in a privately insured population.Background: AFIB is the most common sustained rhythm disturbance, affecting 2.3 million people in the United States.Methods: Cost and co-morbidity measures for AFIB patients were compared to matched controls using a privately insured administrative database (including medical, drug, and disability claims) for 2 million enrollees, 1999–2002 from 16 employers across the United States. Patients with an AFIB diagnosis on at least two occasions were included in the co-morbidity analysis (n = 3944). A non-AFIB control sample was randomly selected with a 1:1 ratio, with characteristics (i.e., age, gender, health plan) matched to AFIB patients. Excess medical costs (i.e., employer payments) were estimated for AFIB patients, defined as the difference in average annual costs between AFIB and control patients (n = 3944); excess work-l...