Employees with fibromyalgia: medical comorbidity, healthcare costs, and work loss.
OBJECTIVE
To compare 2005 health care resources among matched samples of employees with fibromyalgia (FM), osteoarthritis (OA), and controls.


METHODS
Using a claims database of privately insured individuals, FM and OA samples were derived from those with two or more disease-specific claims in 1999 to 2005 (> or =1 in 2002 to 2005).


RESULTS
Total costs for employees with FM ($10,199) approached OA costs ($10,861, P = 0.3758) and were significantly higher than controls ($5274, P < 0.0001). Cost components varied across disease-specific samples (direct medical: FM $7286 vs OA $8325, P < 0.0287; pharmacy: FM $1630 vs OA $1341; indirect: FM $2913 vs OA $2537, P < 0.0001). Employees with FM had more claims than OA for psychiatric diagnoses, chronic fatigue, and most pain conditions. Use of multiple prescription drug classes was common in both samples.


CONCLUSIONS
FM imposes significant economic burden. Work loss contributes substantially to the impact.
White
Leigh Ann
LA
Analysis Group, Inc., 111 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02199, USA. lwhite@analysisgroup.com
Birnbaum
Howard G
HG
Kaltenboeck
Anna
A
Tang
Jackson
J
Mallett
David
D
Robinson
Rebecca L
RL
D000041:Absenteeism; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D017281:Cost of Illness; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017049:Employer Health Costs; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D005356:Fibromyalgia / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology*; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006296:Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010003:Osteoarthritis / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D014481:United States