US Claims Study Shows Heavy Economic Burden of Psoriatic Arthritis

Annual health care resource utilization and costs were significantly higher for US patients with psoriatic arthritis compared with those with psoriasis or without either condition, according to a new study of claims data published online ahead of print in Clinical Rheumatology. 

Researchers used the IBM MarketScan Commercial database to identify claims data for 142,531 patients with psoriasis, 21,428 patients with psoriatic arthritis, and 163,959 patients without either condition who served as controls. Patients with comorbid rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, Crohn’s disease, or ulcerative colitis were not included in the study, which matched control subjects 1:1 to patients with psoriasis and patients with psoriatic arthritis based on age, gender, and number of non-rheumatological comorbidities.  

According to the analysis, per-patient annual all-cause health care costs were $29,742 for psoriatic arthritis, $11,062 for psoriasis, and $7470 for controls. Five-year follow-up models showed that all-cause health care costs increased over time and were significantly greater for patients with psoriatic arthritis compared with psoriasis or control subjects. 

Health care resource utilization was highest for patients with psoriatic arthritis across all categories compared with patients with psoriasis or controls, the study found.   

“Annual health care costs and resource utilization were significantly higher with psoriatic arthritis compared with psoriasis and the control group, confirming the substantial economic burden of psoriatic arthritis,” researchers wrote. “The cost disparity between these patient groups highlights a continued unmet medical need.” 

Reference:
Merola JF, Dennis N, Chakravarty SD, et al. Healthcare utilization and costs among patients with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis in the USA-a retrospective study of claims data from 2009 to 2020 [published online ahead of print, 2021 May 2]. Clin Rheumatol. 2021;10.1007/s10067-021-05713-8. doi:10.1007/s10067-021-05713-8