Health care consumption and HRQOL in severe asthma in Sweden

• Objectives: Severe asthma is a disabling and costly disease, often poorly controlled despite high-dosage controller medications. The objectives of this analysis were to estimate health care consumption and to investigate health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in a severe asthma cohort, derived from a large-scale population survey in northern Sweden. Methods: Severe asthma was defined by US SARP criteria; high-dosage inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) by GINA 2014 criteria. In total, 32 patients with severe asthma were invited to a clinical examination and structured interview. Retrospective data of all asthma-related direct and indirect resource consumption during the last year were collected following a defined protocol. HRQOL was assessed by four patient-reported outcome measures: two general measures (SF-36; EQ-5D) and two disease-specific measures (SGRQ; ACT). The cohort was divided into two groups —patients with (OCS) or without maintenance oral corticosteroid (non-OCS) treatment. Results: Health care resource utilization was greater in the OCS-group compared with the non-OCS group. Mean annual number of visits to specialist care was 2.0 in the OCS group vs. 0.5 visits in the non-OCS group. Four patients in the OCS group had early retirement vs. none in the non-OCS group. HRQOL was worse in the OCS group, both when measured with general and disease-specific instruments. The Mental and Physical Component Summary scores of the SF-36 in the OCS vs. non-OCS group were 50.1 vs. 40.7 and 55.8 vs. 44.4, respectively. Similarly, the total SGRQ scores indicated worse HRQOL for the OCS-group compared with the non-OCS group (37.0 vs. 27.0). Conclusions: In this severe asthma population, patients treated with maintenance OCS consumed more health care resources, were more frequently early retired, and had worse HRQOL compared with those not receiving maintenance OCS. The results indicate a need for improved treatment for patients with severe asthma on maintenance OCS. Sponsor: AstraZeneca.

Ämnesord

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)

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