title: Patterns of disease-modifying antirheumatic drug use, medical resource consumption, and cost among rheumatoid arthritis patients.
abstract: We compared medical resource use and costs among rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients receiving alternative disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). The cohort study used data from a managed care organization. Health plan members who were prescribed DMARD therapy for at least 2 consecutive months, were age 18 years or older, had at least 6 months of DMARD-free enrollment prior to the first DMARD, and had a diagnosis of RA before or during the first month of DMARD were eligible. Median duration of initial DMARD therapy was 10 months overall: 11 months for hydroxychloroquine (n = 252), 15 months for methotrexate (n = 185), 5 months for sulfasalazine (n = 49), and 5 months for other mono/combination therapy (n = 85) (p < 0.0001). The average monthly cost of care was $853, of which $294 (34%) was for RA-coded medical services. In multivariate analyses, monthly RA-coded costs varied significantly by initial DMARD. RA costs and duration of initial therapy varied significantly by initial DMARD.
authors.affiliation: Project HOPE Center for Health Affairs, Bethesda, Maryland 20814-6133, USA. rgriffiths@projhope.org
authors.forename: R I
authors.initials: RI
authors.lastname: Griffiths
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bar-Din
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: MacLean
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Sullivan
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Herbert
authors.forename: E H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Yelin
mesh_terms: D018501:Antirheumatic Agents / Q000191:economics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D016527:Drug Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006295:Health Resources / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008329:Managed Care Programs / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D018501:Antirheumatic Agents