Resource use in patients with Crohn's disease treated with infliximab
C Saro1, C da la Coba, M A Casado
1Department of Gastroenterology, Hospital de Cabueñes, Gijón, Spain.
Insights
Infliximab (IFX) effectively reduced hospital stays for Crohn's disease patients. However, this biologic therapy significantly increased overall treatment costs, shifting expenses from hospitalization to the drug itself.
Area of Science:
- Gastroenterology and Hepatology
- Pharmacoeconomics
- Health Services Research
Background:
- Crohn's disease is a chronic inflammatory condition requiring significant healthcare resources.
- Biologic therapies, such as infliximab, have emerged as crucial treatments for moderate to severe Crohn's disease.
- Understanding the economic impact of infliximab is essential for healthcare resource allocation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the effect of infliximab (IFX) on hospital resource utilization in Crohn's disease patients.
- To compare direct medical costs associated with Crohn's disease before and after initiating IFX therapy.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective analysis of resource use data for 34 Crohn's disease patients over at least one year before and after IFX treatment.
- Direct costs included: hospitalizations, surgeries, outpatient visits, diagnostic tests, laboratory tests, and pharmacological treatments.
- Costs associated with IFX administration, including day-care hospitalization, were also calculated.
Main Results:
- Patients achieved an 82% partial or complete response rate to IFX.
- Total annual costs per patient increased from €4,464 before IFX to €10,594 after initiating IFX.
- The primary cost driver shifted from hospitalization (62.4% pre-IFX) to IFX therapy itself (75.5% post-IFX).
Conclusions:
- Infliximab demonstrates effectiveness in reducing hospital stays for Crohn's disease patients in routine clinical practice.
- Despite reduced hospitalizations, infliximab significantly increases the overall budgetary expenditure for managing Crohn's disease.
- This highlights a trade-off between clinical benefits and increased direct drug costs.
Aim:
To estimate the impact of infliximab (IFX) on hospital resources for patients with Crohn's disease.
Methods:
Resource use data for at least 1 year before (B-IFX) and after (A-IFX) infliximab administration were retrospectively collected for all patients treated with IFX at the Hospital Cabueñes (Spain). Direct costs calculated were: hospital-stays, surgeries, out-patient visits, diagnostic and laboratory tests, pharmacological treatments, and day-care hospitalization for IFX administration.
Results:
Patients (n = 34; mean age at treatment: 43.6 years) with 9.8 and 4.3 years (B-IFX and A-IFX, respectively) had their costs estimated. Partial or complete response was achieved in 82% of patients. Total annual B-IFX costs per patient were Euro 4,464, of which 62.4% was for hospitalization, 3.1% for surgery, 8.7% for consultation visits, 16.2% for diagnostic and laboratory tests, and 9.6% for other treatments. Total annual A-IFX costs per patient were Euro 10,594; of which 6.4% was for hospitalization, 0.8% for surgery, 4.2% for consultation visits, 7.6% for diagnostic and laboratory tests, 5.5% for other treatments, and 75.5% for IFX and its administration. The primary cost item was hospitalization (Euro 2,783) during the B-IFX period as opposed to IFX itself (Euro 7,996) during the subsequent A-IFX period.
Conclusions:
In routine practice, IFX appears to be an effective treatment by reducing hospital-stays, but increases overall budgetary cost for patients with Crohn's disease.
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