COPD affects worker productivity and health care costs

Abstract

PurposeThis study aimed to measure the true burden of COPD by calculating incremental direct and indirect costs. Direct medical resource use, productivity metrics, and COPD-specific resource use and costs were also evaluated.Patients and methodsThis was a retrospective, observational, matched cohort study using administrative claims data from the Truven Health MarketScan® Commercial Claims and Encounters and the Health and Productivity Management databases (2007–2010). Working-age (18–65 years) patients with COPD were identified as having at least one hospitalization or one emergency department visit or two outpatient visits. Patients in the non-COPD cohort did not have a diagnosis of COPD during the study period. Outcomes were evaluated in the first full calendar year after the year of identification (index).ResultsOf the 5,701 patients with COPD identified, 3.6% patients were frequent exacerbators (≥2), 10.4% patients were infrequent exacerbators (1), and 86% patients were non-exacerbators (0). When compared with the 17,103 patients without COPD, the incremental direct cost of COPD was estimated at $6,246/patient/year (95% confidence interval: $4,620, $8,623; P<0.001). Loss in productivity was significantly greater in patients with COPD, with an average of 5 more days/year of absence from work and incremental indirect costs from short-term disability of $641 (P<0.001). Direct costs for frequent exacerbators ($17,651/year) and infrequent exacerbators ($14,501/year) were significantly higher than those for non-exacerbators ($11,395, P<0.001).ConclusionWorking-age patients with COPD incur statistically significantly higher direct and indirect costs and use more resources compared with those who do not have COPD.

Alterations of multiple alveolar macrophage states in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

“…Due to smoking and increasing air pollution the current prevalence of 10.1% is estimated to further increase in the next decades (Celli and Wedzicha, 2019). Considering the enormous medical and financial burden of COPD (May and Li, 2015;Patel et al, 2018), there is a need to develop efficient biomarker-based diagnostics, and molecularly defined therapies.…”

Clinical differences between eosinophilic and non-eosinophilic acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD), a multicenter cross-sectional study

“…It was reported that about 3 million people dead from COPD every year [3,31]. Patel JG et al showed that COPD caused average of 5 more days of work absence and $641 short-term disability associated extra costs each year in the USA [32]. It was estimated that the global years lived with disability (YLDs) of COPD was about 29.4 million in 2010 [33].…”

Understanding the impact of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations on patient health and quality of life

“…COPD exacerbations are responsible for the majority of the substantial burden that COPD places on healthcare systems [2,3]. In the USA, the annual cost of COPD management has been shown to increase proportionally with the number of COPD exacerbations, with COPDrelated costs, including pharmacy claims for COPD treatments, more than six times higher in patients experiencing frequent (≥2/year) exacerbations ($4361) compared with those who had none ($644) [4].…”