Incremental direct and indirect costs of untreated vasomotor symptoms

作者：Philip M. Sarrel, David Jay Portman, Patrick Lefèbvre, Marie‐Hélène Lafeuille, Amanda Melina Grittner, Jonathan Fortier, Jonathan Gravel, Mei Sheng Duh, Peter M. Aupperle · 发表于：Menopause The Journal of The North American Menopause Society · 年份：2014 · DOI：10.1097/gme.0000000000000320 · 被引用次数：163 · 研究领域：Menopause: Health Impacts and Treatments、Sexual function and dysfunction studies、Uterine Myomas and Treatments

OBJECTIVE: Most women with moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms (VMS) are untreated. This retrospective matched-cohort study aims to evaluate the healthcare resource utilization, work loss, and cost burden associated with untreated VMS. METHODS: Health insurance claims (1999-2011) were used to match (1:1) women with untreated VMS with control women using propensity score. Healthcare resource utilization, work productivity loss (disability + medically related absenteeism), and associated costs were compared between cohorts. RESULTS: During the 12-month follow-up, women with untreated VMS (n = 252,273; mean age, 56 y) had significantly higher healthcare resource utilization than women in the control cohort: 82% higher for all-cause outpatient visits (95% CI, 81-83; P < 0.001) and 121% higher (95% CI, 118-124; P < 0.001) for VMS-related outpatient visits. Mean direct costs per patient per year were significantly higher for VMS women (direct cost difference, US$1,346; 95% CI, 1,249-1,449; P < 0.001). VMS women had 57% (95% CI, 51-63; P < 0.001) more indirect work productivity loss days than controls, corresponding to an incremental indirect cost per patient per year associated with untreated VMS of US$770 (95% CI, 726-816; P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that untreated VMS are associated with significantly higher frequency of outpatient visits and incremental direct and indirect costs.