Galloway, J, Edwards, J, Bhagat, S et al. (7 more authors) (2021) Direct healthcare resource utilisation, health-related quality of life, and work productivity in patients with moderate rheumatoid arthritis: an observational study. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, 22 (1). 277. ISSN 1471-2474
Abstract
Background
The aim was to describe the population of patients with moderate rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in the United Kingdom and the burden of disease from the perspectives of the patient, caregiver, and health service.
Methods
In this descriptive study, retrospective patient-level data were extracted from hospital medical records to assess healthcare resource utilisation and validated outcome measures were administered via questionnaire to patients with moderate RA (Disease Activity Score [DAS28] between 3.2 and 5.1) from eight secondary care centres, and their caregivers. Patient-reported outcome instruments were scored according to licensed manuals.
Results
Outcome measures were completed by 102 patients and 38 caregivers. The mean EuroQoL-5 dimension-5 level crosswalk index value for patients was 0.62 (SD 0.24) compared to an England population norm of 0.82. Mean pain VAS score was 37.7 (SD 24.0) and mean Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index was 1.1 (SD 0.8). In employed patients who completed the Work Productivity and Activity Impairment questionnaire (n = 26), a mean 29% (SD 26%) reduction in work productivity was recorded. Patients experienced significant fatigue as a result of their RA (median Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy fatigue score 17.2 of a possible 52, interquartile range [IQR] 11.0–28.8). Over 50% of caregivers reported providing > 7 h of support care per week to the patient with RA, and 16 and 11% took paid/unpaid leave or reduced working hours, respectively. Mean Caregiver Reaction Assessment subscale scores were 1.9 (SD 0.9) for finance, 1.7 (SD 0.8) for health, 2.3 (SD 1.0) for schedule disruption, and 1.9 (SD 0.8) for family support. Patients had a mean 5.5 (SD 4.1) outpatient attendances and a median 9.0 (IQR 2.0–20.0) diagnostic and monitoring tests in the 12 months prior to enrolment.
Conclusions
This study shows that moderate RA has a considerable impact on healthcare resources and on patients’ and caregivers’ lives. There is scope to improve the management of patients with moderate RA.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s). 2021. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. |
Keywords: | Rheumatoid arthritis; Quality of life; EQ-5D; Burden; Moderate; DAS28; Patient-reported outcome; Resource utilisation; Caregiver |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > School of Medicine (Leeds) > Institute of Rheumatology & Musculoskeletal Medicine (LIRMM) (Leeds) > Musculoskeletal Medicine & Imaging (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number Abbvie Ltd RR18/108631 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 23 Mar 2021 12:37 |
Last Modified: | 23 Mar 2021 12:37 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | BMC |
Identification Number: | 10.1186/s12891-021-04110-1 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:172456 |