Factors associated with the health care cost in older Australian women with arthritis: An application of the Andersen's Behavioural Model of Health Services Use.

Parkinson, L ORCiD: 0000-0001-9433-9555OBJECTIVE: Factors associated with the utilisation of health care have not been rigorously examined in people with arthritis. The objective of this study was to examine the determinants of health care utilisation and costs in older women with arthritis using the Andersen's behavioural model as a framework. STUDY DESIGN: Longitudinal cohort study. METHODS: Participants of Surveys 3 to 5 of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health who reported arthritis were included in the study. Information about health care utilisation and unit prices were based on linked Medicare Australia data, which included prescription medicines and health services. Total health care costs of participants with arthritis were measured for the years 2002 to 2003, 2005 to 2006, and 2008 to 2009, which corresponded to the survey years. Potential explanatory variables of the health care cost and other characteristics of the participants were collected from the health surveys. Explanatory variables were grouped into predisposing characteristics, enabling factors and need variables conforming to the Andersen's Behavioural Model of Health Services Use. Longitudinal data analysis was conducted using generalized estimating equations. RESULTS: A total of 5834 observations were included for the three periods. Regression analysis results show that higher health care cost in older Australian women with arthritis was significantly associated with residing in an urban area, having supplementary health insurance coverage, more comorbid conditions, using complementary and alternative medicine, and worse physical functioning. It was also found that predisposing characteristics (such as the area of residence) and enabling factors (such as health insurance coverage) accounted for more variance in the health care cost than need variables (such as comorbid conditions). CONCLUSION: These results may indicate an inefficient and unfair allocation of subsidised health care among older Australian women with arthritis, where individuals with less enabling resources and more socio-economic disadvantages have a lower level of health care utilisation. Future research may focus on evaluating the effectiveness of policies designed to reduce excessive out-of-pocket costs and to improve equity in health care access in the older population

A six-year trend of the healthcare cost of arthritis in a population-based cohort of older women

ABSTRACT Objectives To examine the trend of the healthcare cost of arthritis in a population-based cohort of older women and to estimate the mean adjusted incremental healthcare costs, and selected percentiles. Approach This is a healthcare cost study based on individual-level data. Data included health survey and linked administrative data, from 2003 to 2009, from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health. The Medicare Australia datasets include the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (unit record data on claims for government-subsidized prescription medicines) and the Medicare Benefits Schedule (listing of health services subsidized by the Australian Government) datasets; they were the source for all healthcare utilization and cost data in this study. The main outcome measure was the incremental healthcare cost of arthritis (estimated from the Australian Government’s cost perspective) expressed as dollars per person per year. All costs were expressed in 2012 Australian dollars. Regression models were used to estimate the adjusted incremental costs of arthritis. The mean adjusted incremental healthcare cost of arthritis was computed using GLMs with a logarithmic-link function and a gamma distribution for costs. The adjusted incremental costs at the 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th and 95th percentiles were computed using Quantile Regression. These percentiles were chosen because cost data are skewed to the right and it was expected that there would be smaller differences between the lower percentiles but bigger differences between upper adjacent percentiles. Results Data from 4287 women were included in the analysis. Adjusted incremental healthcare cost of arthritis did not increase significantly from 2003 to 2009. However, there were indications that costs at the lower percentiles decreased slightly over the study period while costs at higher (above 50th) percentiles increased. The estimated median cost was $480 (95$498 - $759) per person per year in 2009. However, ten percent of women had more than 300% higher cost than the “average person” with arthritis. Conclusion Healthcare cost of arthritis represents a substantial burden. However, considering only overall cost does not provide a detailed picture of expenditure. Our results suggest that higher cost patients had different experiences in arthritis cost over time, compared to patients with lower costs, although overall cost has not increased over time. As healthcare spending is concentrated in the high-cost patients, characterising these patients and formulating initiatives that target them could have a considerable impact on improving care and lowering health expenditure due to arthritis

Cost of arthritis: A systematic review of methodologies used for direct costs

Parkinson, L ORCiD: 0000-0001-9433-9555A substantial amount of healthcare and costs are attributable to arthritis, which is a very common chronic disease. This paper presents the results of a systematic review of arthritis cost studies published from 2008 to 2013. MEDLINE, Embase, EconLit databases were searched, as well as governmental and nongovernmental organization websites. Seventy-one reports met the inclusion/exclusion criteria, and 24 studies were included in the review. Among these studies, common methods included the use of individual-level data, bottom-up costing approach, use of both an arthritis group and a control group to enable incremental cost computation of the disease, and use of regression methods such as generalized linear models and ordinary least squares regression to control for confounding variables. Estimates of the healthcare cost of arthritis varied considerably across the studies depending on the study methods, the form of arthritis and the population studied. In the USA, for example, the estimated healthcare cost of arthritis ranged from $1862 to$14,021 per person, per year. The reviewed study methods have strengths, weaknesses and potential improvements in relation to estimating the cost of disease, which are outlined in this paper. Caution must be exercised when these methods are applied to cost estimation and monitoring of the economic burden of arthritis

Measuring cumulative anticholinergic medicines burden in older Australian women

ABSTRACT Objectives Anticholinergic medicines burden is common, can have negative impacts, and is problematic to identify. Many medicines used by older women have anticholinergic effects. Importantly for older women, where multimorbidity and use of multiple medicines is common, even when anticholinergic effect of an individual medicine is small, the anticholinergic effects of multiple medicines may be additive, constituting cumulative anticholinergic burden. This study describes medicines contributing to and predictors of anticholinergic burden among community-dwelling older Australian women. Approach Retrospective longitudinal analysis of data from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health linked to Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme medicines data from 1 January 2008 to 30 December 2010; for 3694 women born in 1921–1926.Anticholinergic medicines were assigned anticholinergic potency levels 0 to 3, according to the Anticholinergic Drug Scale. Anticholinergic Drug Scale ratings for all medicines used by each woman were summed across each six months to give an Anticholinergic Drug Scale score. Commonly used medicines were identified for women with high ADS scores (defined as 75th percentile of scores). Predictors of high ADS scores were analysed using generalised estimating equations.  Results During 2008-2010, 1126 (59.9%) of women used at least one anticholinergic medicine. Median Anticholinergic Drug Scale score was 4. Most anticholinergic medicines used by women who had a high anticholinergic burden (Anticholinergic Drug Scale score > 9) had a low anticholinergic potency (Anticholinergic Drug Scale level 1). Increasing age, cardiovascular disease, and number of other medicines used were predictive of a higher anticholinergic burden. Conclusion High anticholinergic medicines burden in this group was driven by use of multiple lower anticholinergic potency medicines rather than use of higher potency medicines. While we might expect that doctors would readily identify anticholinergic burden risk for those using high potency medicines, they may be less likely to identify this risk for users of multiple low potency anticholinergic medicines. The paper will also discuss how GPs view these findings, and how to translate them into the prescribing setting

Cost of arthritis: A systematic review of methodologies used for direct costs

A substantial amount of healthcare and costs are attributable to arthritis, which is a very common chronic disease. This paper presents the results of a systematic review of arthritis cost studies published from 2008 to 2013. MEDLINE, Embase, EconLit databases were searched, as well as governmental and nongovernmental organization websites. Seventy-one reports met the inclusion/exclusion criteria, and 24 studies were included in the review. Among these studies, common methods included the use of individual-level data, bottom-up costing approach, use of both an arthritis group and a control group to enable incremental cost computation of the disease, and use of regression methods such as generalized linear models and ordinary least squares regression to control for confounding variables. Estimates of the healthcare cost of arthritis varied considerably across the studies depending on the study methods, the form of arthritis and the population studied. In the USA, for example, the estimated healthcare cost of arthritis ranged from $1862 to$14,021 per person, per year. The reviewed study methods have strengths, weaknesses and potential improvements in relation to estimating the cost of disease, which are outlined in this paper. Caution must be exercised when these methods are applied to cost estimation and monitoring of the economic burden of arthritis

Factors associated with the health care cost in older Australian women with arthritis: An application of the Andersen's Behavioural Model of Health Services Use.

OBJECTIVE: Factors associated with the utilisation of health care have not been rigorously examined in people with arthritis. The objective of this study was to examine the determinants of health care utilisation and costs in older women with arthritis using the Andersen's behavioural model as a framework. STUDY DESIGN: Longitudinal cohort study. METHODS: Participants of Surveys 3 to 5 of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health who reported arthritis were included in the study. Information about health care utilisation and unit prices were based on linked Medicare Australia data, which included prescription medicines and health services. Total health care costs of participants with arthritis were measured for the years 2002 to 2003, 2005 to 2006, and 2008 to 2009, which corresponded to the survey years. Potential explanatory variables of the health care cost and other characteristics of the participants were collected from the health surveys. Explanatory variables were grouped into predisposing characteristics, enabling factors and need variables conforming to the Andersen's Behavioural Model of Health Services Use. Longitudinal data analysis was conducted using generalized estimating equations. RESULTS: A total of 5834 observations were included for the three periods. Regression analysis results show that higher health care cost in older Australian women with arthritis was significantly associated with residing in an urban area, having supplementary health insurance coverage, more comorbid conditions, using complementary and alternative medicine, and worse physical functioning. It was also found that predisposing characteristics (such as the area of residence) and enabling factors (such as health insurance coverage) accounted for more variance in the health care cost than need variables (such as comorbid conditions). CONCLUSION: These results may indicate an inefficient and unfair allocation of subsidised health care among older Australian women with arthritis, where individuals with less enabling resources and more socio-economic disadvantages have a lower level of health care utilisation. Future research may focus on evaluating the effectiveness of policies designed to reduce excessive out-of-pocket costs and to improve equity in health care access in the older population

Additional file 1: Table S1. of Discordance between self-reported arthritis and musculoskeletal signs and symptoms in older women

Univariate analysis results for factors associated with false-positive and false-negative. (DOCX 16 kb

The prevalence and cross-sectional associations of neuropathic-like pain among older, community-dwelling women with arthritis.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence and examine the associations of neuropathic-like pain in a community-based sample of older Australian women with arthritis. DESIGN: Population based cross-sectional survey. SETTING: Participants were recruited from the 1946-1951 cohort of the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women's Health. SUBJECTS: . Women with self-reported arthritis (n = 147). METHODS: . Primary outcome measure was self-reported neuropathic-like pain, defined as scores ≥12 via the painDETECT screening tool. Descriptive statistics summarized health and socio-demographic characteristics, and comparisons made using student's t-test or Wilcoxon Rank Sum test, and Chi-square tests. Independent health and demographic variables were examined by univariable logistic regression, and significant variables included in multiple variable logistic regression modelling. RESULTS: Thirty-nine women (26.5%) were screened as having neuropathic-like pain. Women with neuropathic-like pain were more likely to have poorer health, worse pain, higher pain catastrophizing, more fatigue, and more depression than women with nociceptive pain. Neuropathic-like pain was significantly associated with higher scores on the SF-MPQ sensory scale and pain catastrophizing scale, and with more medication use. CONCLUSIONS: . Neuropathic-like pain in women with arthritis was common and is associated with greater disability and poorer quality of life