Burden of a Multiple Sclerosis Relapse: The Patient's Perspective
Abstract
Background:Background: Relapses are a common feature of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) and increasing severity has been shown to be associated with higher healthcare costs, and to result in transient increases in disability. Increasing disability likely impacts work and leisure productivity, and lowers quality of life. Abstract: Objective:Objective: The objective of this study was to characterize from the patient's perspective the impact of a multiple sclerosis (MS) relapse in terms of the economic cost, work and leisure productivity, functional ability, and health-related quality of life (HR-QOL), for a sample of patients with RRMS in the US treated with immunomodulatory agents. Abstract: Methods:Methods: A cross-sectional, web-based, self-report survey was conducted among members of MSWatch.com, a patient support website now known as Copaxone.com. Qualified respondents in the US had been diagnosed with RRMS and were using an immunomodulatory agent. The survey captured costs of RRMS with questions about healthcare resource utilization, use of community services, and purchased alterations and assistive items related to MS. The Work and Leisure Impairment instrument and the EQ-5D were used to measure productivity losses and HR-QOL (health utility), respectively. The Goodin MS neurological impairment questionnaire was used to measure functional disability; questions were added about relapses in the past year. Abstract: Results:Results: Of 711 qualified respondents, 67% reported having at least one relapse during the last year, with a mean of 2.2 ± 2.3 relapses/year. Respondents who experienced at least one relapse had significantly higher mean annual direct and indirect costs compared with those who did not experience a relapse ($US38 458 vs $US28 669; p - 0.0004) [year 2009 values]. Direct health-related costs accounted for the majority of the increased cost ($US5201; 53%) and were mainly due to increases in hospitalizations, medications, and ambulatory care. Indirect costs, including informal care and productivity loss, accounted for the additional 47% of increased cost ($US4588). Accounting for the mean number of relapses associated with these increased costs, the total economic cost of one relapse episode could be estimated at about $US4449, exclusive of intangible costs. The mean self-reported Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score, derived from the Goodin MS questionnaire, was significantly higher with relapse than with a clinically stable state (EDSS 4.3 vs 3.7; p < 0.0001), while the mean health utility score was significantly lower with relapse compared with a clinically stable state (0.66 vs 0.75; p - 0.0001). The value of these intangible costs of relapse can be estimated at $US5400. The overall burden (direct, indirect, and intangible costs) of one relapse in patients treated with immunomodulatory agents is therefore estimated conservatively at $US9849. Abstract: Conclusions:Conclusions: This study shows that from a patient's perspective an MS relapse is associated with a significant increase in the economic costs as well as a decline in HR-QOL and functional ability.Download Info
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.
Bibliographic Info
Article provided by Springer Healthcare | Adis in its journal The Patient: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research.
Volume (Year): 5 (2012)
Issue (Month): 1 ()
Pages: 57-69
Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML
(with abstract),
plain text
(with abstract),
BibTeX,
RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite),
ReDIF
Handle: RePEc:wkh:thepat:v:5:y:2012:i:1:p:57-69
Contact details of provider:
Web page: http://thepatient.adisonline.com/
For corrections or technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Dave Dustin).
Related research
Keywords: Cost-of-illness; Multiple-sclerosis; Quality-of-life.;Find related papers by JEL classification:
- C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods
- D - Microeconomics
- I - Health, Education, and Welfare
- Z - Other Special Topics
- I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
- I19 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Other
- I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
- I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
References
No references listed on IDEASYou can help add them by filling out this form.
Citations
Lists
This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.Statistics
Access and download statisticsCorrections
When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wkh:thepat:v:5:y:2012:i:1:p:57-69For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Dave Dustin).
If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.
If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.
If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.
If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.
Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.