title: The relationship between pharmaceutical costs, disease severity, and health-related quality of life in asthmatics in Swedish primary care.
abstract: The objective of this study is to explore the relationship between variables that may influence pharmaceutical costs in asthma and to generate a predictive model for these costs in primary health care. The understanding of these relationships is important since costs of drugs may place unnecessary economic burden on patients and society. During 2003, prospective clinical data were collected from 105 patients in 24 primary health care centers located in Stockholm. The relationships between cost of drugs and quality of life, lung function, and asthma severity were analyzed in a regression model. Twenty-three percent of the observed variation in pharmaceutical costs could be explained by asthma severity, disease-specific quality of life, and clinical practice. There was a weak inverse correlation between pharmaceutical costs, generic quality of life, and lung function. Even when severity was accounted for, there were large variations in costs between different primary health care units.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Allergy Research, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. marianne.heibert.arnlind@ki.se
authors.forename: Marianne Heibert
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Arnlind
authors.forename: Mika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nokela
authors.forename: Clas
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rehnberg
authors.forename: Eva Wikström
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: Jonsson
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000145:classification; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D018927:Anti-Asthmatic Agents / Q000191:economics* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001249:Asthma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D016527:Drug Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018803:Models, Economic; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013147:Spirometry; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden
chemical_list: D018927:Anti-Asthmatic Agents