Disease burden of psoriatic arthritis compared to rheumatoid arthritis, Hungarian experiment

The objectives of this study were to assess the costs of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) in Hungary and to identify key cost drivers among demographic and clinical variables and to compare cost-of-illness of PsA and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Cross-sectional retrospective survey of 183 consecutive patients from eight rheumatology centres was conducted. Mean direct medical, direct non medical, indirect and total costs were 1,876, 794, 2,904 and 5,574 euros/patient/year, respectively. Total costs were in significant linear relationship with health assessment questionnaire score and psoriatic area severity index. Costs of RA were higher in all domains than of PsA. Our study was the first from the Eastern European region that provides cost-of-illness data on PsA. Our study revealed that functional status and severity of skin symptoms were the key cost drivers. The costs of PsA in Hungary were lower than in the high-income European countries.