Economic burden of COPD in a Swedish cohort: the ARCTIC study

• Main Authors: Lisspers K, Larsson K, Johansson G, Janson C, Costa-Scharplatz M, Gruenberger JB, Uhde M, Jorgensen L, Gutzwiller FS, Ställberg B
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dove Medical Press 2018-01-01
• Series: International Journal of COPD
• Subjects: COPD; direct cost; indirect cost; burden; Sweden
• Online Access: https://www.dovepress.com/economic-burden-of-copd-in-a-swedish-cohort-the-arctic-study-peer-reviewed-article-COPD

Karin Lisspers,1 Kjell Larsson,2 Gunnar Johansson,1 Christer Janson,3 Madlaina Costa-Scharplatz,4 Jean-Bernard Gruenberger,5 Milica Uhde,6 Leif Jorgensen,7 Florian S Gutzwiller,5 Björn Ställberg1 1Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Family Medicine and Preventive Medicine, Uppsala University, Uppsala, 2Department of Work Environment Toxicology, The National Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Solna, 3Department of Medical Sciences, Respiratory, Allergy and Sleep Research, Uppsala University, Uppsala, 4Novartis AB, Täby, Sweden; 5Novartis, Basel, Switzerland; 6IQVIA, Solna, Sweden; 7IQVIA, Copenhagen, Denmark Background: We assessed direct and indirect costs associated with COPD in Sweden and examined how these costs vary across time, age, and disease stage in a cohort of patients with COPD and matched controls in a real-world, primary care (PC) setting.Patients and methods: Data from electronic medical records linked to the mandatory national health registers were collected for COPD patients and a matched reference population in 52 PC centers from 2000 to 2014. Direct health care costs (drug, outpatient or inpatient, PC, both COPD related and not COPD related) and indirect health care costs (loss of income, absenteeism, loss of productivity) were assessed.Results: A total of 17,479 patients with COPD and 84,514 reference controls were analyzed. During 2013, direct costs were considerably higher among the COPD patient population (€13,179) versus the reference population (€2,716), largely due to hospital nights unrelated to COPD. Direct costs increased with increasing disease severity and increasing age and were driven by higher respiratory drug costs and non-COPD-related hospital nights. Indirect costs (~€28,000 per patient) were the largest economic burden in COPD patients of working age during 2013.Conclusion: As non-COPD-related hospital nights represent the largest direct cost, management of comorbidities in COPD would offer clinical benefits and relieve the financial burden of disease. Keywords: COPD, direct cost, indirect cost, burden, Sweden