Saving in medical costs by achieving guideline-based asthma symptom control: a population-based study

Area of Science:

• Pulmonary Medicine
• Health Economics

Background:

• Asthma control is a key outcome in clinical trials.
• Economic evaluations necessitate quantifying control's impact on resource use.

Purpose of the Study:

• To estimate direct cost savings from achieving asthma symptom control.
• Utilized the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) 2014 strategy for control definition.

Main Methods:

• Recruited adults and adolescents with asthma via random digit dialing.
• Assessed GINA asthma control and healthcare resource use over 1 year.
• Employed regression models to link costs (2012 CAD) with symptom control, adjusting for confounders.

Main Results:

• 517 participants contributed 2033 follow-up visits; 30.8% of visits had uncontrolled asthma.
• Average 3-month asthma costs were $134.5 (inpatient 20.5%, outpatient 47.8%, medication 31.5%).
• Uncontrolled asthma significantly increased 3-month costs by $81.7 compared to controlled asthma.

Conclusions:

• A significant portion of mild-moderate asthmatics remained symptomatically uncontrolled.
• Achieving asthma symptom control is associated with reduced direct healthcare expenditures.
• Study findings provide adjusted values for cost-effectiveness analyses of asthma interventions.