Published in

SAGE Publications, Health Services Management Research, 1(36), p. 42-50, 2022

DOI: 10.1177/09514848221100749

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

Association between asthma control and healthcare costs: Results from a German linked data study

This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.

Full text: Unavailable

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Green circle
Postprint: archiving allowed
Red circle
Published version: archiving forbidden
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to evaluate differences in healthcare resource utilization and cost among patients with controlled and uncontrolled asthma. Methods: Claims data from a German sickness fund was linked to patient survey data. Outpatient physicians enrolled patients and assessed asthma control using the ACTTM questionnaire. All-cause and asthma-specific healthcare resource use (HCRU)/costs were compared descriptively and based on multivariable models using a continuous ACTTM score. Results: Overall, 492 asthma patients were included (mean age: 53.8, 73.8% female). The mean/median ACTTM score was 19.9/20.7, with 183 patients (37.2%) classified as having uncontrolled asthma (mean ACTTM score<20) Patients with uncontrolled asthma had significantly more hospitalizations ( p = .035) and medication prescriptions ( p < .001), which resulted in higher total healthcare costs for asthma-related (€1785 vs. €1615; p = .004) and all-cause care (€4695 vs. €4117; p = .009). While controlling for baseline characteristics, multivariable models confirmed a negative association between asthma control and total all-cause healthcare costs ( p = .008), total asthma-related costs ( p = .008), and costs of medication prescriptions ( p = .001). However, no significant association was found for all-cause ( p = .062) and asthma-related hospitalization costs ( p = .576). Conclusion: Considering continuous patient care, improving asthma control is not only desirable from a clinical perspective, but could also be an effective approach to reduce asthma-related HCRU and cost burden.