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HealthSWEDE: costs with sublingual immunotherapy-a Swedish questionnaire study
Petter Olsson1, Carl Skröder2, Lars Ahlbeck3
1Division of Ear, Nose and Throat Diseases, Department of Clinical Sciences, Intervention and Technology, Klinisk Vetenskap (CLINTEC), Karolinska Institutet, Intervention och teknik, H9 Öron-, näs, och halssjukdomar, 171 77, Stockholm, Sweden. petter.olsson@ki.se.
Background:
The aim of this cross-sectional survey was to compare the health-economic consequences for allergic rhinitis (AR) patients treated with sublingual Immunotherapy (SLIT) in terms of direct and indirect costs with a reference population of patients receiving standard of care pharmacological therapy.
Methods:
Primary objective was to analyse the health-economic consequences of SLIT for grass pollen allergy in Sweden vs reference group waiting for subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT). A questionnaire was mailed to two groups of AR patients.
Results:
The questionnaire was distributed to 548 patients, 307 with SLIT and 241 in reference group (waiting for SCIT). Response rate was 53.8%. Mean annual costs were higher for reference patients than SLIT group; € 3907 (SD 4268) vs € 2084 (SD 1623) p < 0.001. Mean annual direct cost was higher for SLIT-patients, € 1191 (SD 465) than for reference, € 751 (SD 589) p < 0.001. Mean annual indirect costs for combined absenteeism and presenteeism were lower for patients treated with SLIT, € 912 (SD 1530), than for reference, € 3346 (SD 4120) p < 0.001, with presenteeism as main driver.
Conclusions:
SLIT seems to be a cost-beneficial way to treat seasonal AR. This information might be used to guide future recommendations.
