Health Care Costs of Patients With Biopsy-Confirmed Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Are Nearly Twice Those of Matched Controls

• BACKGROUND & AIMS: Data on healthcare resource use and costs associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in clinical practice are lacking. We compared real-life healthcare costs of patients with NAFLD to matched controls. METHODS: We performed a retrospective study of 646 patients with biopsy-proven NAFLD in Sweden from 1971 through 2009. Each patient was matched for age, sex, and county of residence with 10 persons from the general population (controls). We retrieved all healthcare contacts through Dec 31, 2014 from national registers. Unit costs were assigned to arrive at a total healthcare cost (in USD [$]) per study subject. RESULTS: During a mean follow-up of 19.9 years, we recorded a mean of 0.27 hospitalizations per year for patients with NAFLD vs 0.16 for controls (P <.001). This corresponded to an incremental cost of $635 per year for patients with NAFLD. Patients with NAFLD had a higher mean use of outpatient care visits: 1.46 contacts per year compared with 0.86 per year in controls, corresponding to $255 in additional costs (P <.001). Total costs incurred by patients with stage 3-4 fibrosis were higher than by patients with fibrosis stage 0-2 (mean annual costs, $4397 vs $629). Cumulative costs were higher for all stages of fibrosis compared to controls. CONCLUSIONS: Healthcare costs are nearly twice as high in patients with NAFLD than in matched controls. This is mostly attributable to higher costs for hospitalizations, but also to more outpatient visits. Patients with advanced fibrosis had the highest costs.

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Gastroenterologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Gastroenterology and Hepatology (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Hälso- och sjukvårdsorganisation, hälsopolitik och hälsoekonomi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Health Care Service and Management, Health Policy and Services and Health Economy (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis; Cirrhosis; Economics; Subgroups

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)