The impact of arthritis and joint pain on individual healthcare expenditures: findings from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), 2011. Arthritis Res Ther 2017 Feb 28;19(1):38
Date
03/02/2017Pubmed ID
28245879Pubmed Central ID
PMC5331686DOI
10.1186/s13075-017-1230-3Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85014099695 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 17 CitationsAbstract
BACKGROUND: Joint pain, including back pain, and arthritis are common conditions in the United States, affecting more than 100 million individuals and costing upwards of $200 billion each year. Although activity limitations associated with these disorders impose a substantial economic burden, this relationship has not been explored in a large U.S. cohort.
METHODS: In this study, we used the Medical Expenditures Panel Survey to investigate whether functional limitations explain the difference in medical expenditures between patients with arthritis and joint pain and those without. We used sequential explanatory linear models to investigate this relationship and accounted for various covariates.
RESULTS: Unadjusted mean expenditures were $10,587 for those with joint pain or arthritis, compared with $3813 for those without. In a fully adjusted model accounting also for functional limitations, those with joint pain or arthritis paid $1638 more than those without, a statistically significant difference.
CONCLUSIONS: The growing economic and public health burden of arthritis and joint pain, as well as the corresponding complications of functional, activity, and sensory limitations, calls for an interdisciplinary approach and heightened awareness among providers to identify strategies that meet the needs of high-risk patients in order to prevent and delay disease progression.
Author List
Williams EM, Walker RJ, Faith T, Egede LEAuthors
Leonard E. Egede MD Center Director, Chief, Professor in the Medicine department at Medical College of WisconsinRebekah Walker PhD Associate Professor in the Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin
MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AdolescentAdult
Aged
Arthralgia
Arthritis
Back Pain
Cost of Illness
Female
Health Expenditures
Humans
Linear Models
Male
Middle Aged
Models, Economic
Surveys and Questionnaires
United States
Young Adult
