Frequency and cost of actinic keratosis treatment.
BACKGROUND
Actinic keratosis (AK) is a common lesion with its highest incidence in the aged population. Although treatment strategies for AK have continued to develop, the cost of such treatments has not been recently investigated.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this article is to determine the frequency of visits for AK, the methods used to treat AK, and the cost of the treatments used annually.


METHODS
Data from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey and National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey were used to determine the frequency of office visits for AK and the frequency of destructive procedures and topical treatment of AK. Medicare reimbursement rates were used to estimate the cost of the procedures performed. Costs of medications were based on published wholesale costs.


RESULTS
There are an estimated 5.2 million AK visits annually, 60% of which are made by the Medicare population. A total of Dollars 920 million was spent on the treatment of AK annually, 6% being spent on topical therapy, 43% on office visits, and 51% on destructive procedures.


CONCLUSIONS
Even though new topical therapies are evolving for the treatment of AK, destructive procedures remain the standard of care when considering frequency of use, efficacy, and cost control.
Warino
Lindsey
L
Center for Dermatology Research, Department of Dermatology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine; Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27157-1070, USA.
Tusa
Mark
M
Camacho
Fabian
F
Teuschler
Hoa
H
Fleischer
Alan B
AB
Feldman
Steven R
SR
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D006801:Humans; D007642:Keratosis / Q000191:economics* / Q000628:therapy*; D006278:Medicare / Q000191:economics; D008875:Middle Aged; D009819:Office Visits / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011230:Precancerous Conditions / Q000191:economics / Q000628:therapy; D014481:United States