TY - JOUR T1 - Economic Impact Analysis of the Use of Anti-DFS70 Antibody Test In Patients with Undifferentiated Systemic Autoimmune Disease Symptoms JF - The Journal of Rheumatology JO - J Rheumatol DO - 10.3899/jrheum.190533 SP - jrheum.190533 AU - Luca Moroni AU - Gabriela Restovic AU - Ricard Cervera AU - Gerard Espinosa AU - Odette Viñas AU - Milagros García AU - Laura Sampietro-Colom Y1 - 2019/11/01 UR - http://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2019/10/28/jrheum.190533.abstract N2 - Objective In patients with antinuclear antibodies (ANA) and undifferentiated features of systemic autoimmune disease, the coexistence of monospecific anti-dense fine speckled-70 (anti-DFS70) antibodies is associated with a lower risk of progression to overt disease. Therefore, they might help in correctly classifying ANA positive patients and avoiding unnecessary follow-up diagnostic procedures. The aim of this study was to analyze the economic impact of the introduction of the anti-DFS70 antibody test in a hospital setting. Methods A case-control study was performed to detect monospecific anti-DFS70 antibodies in ANA positive subjects with undifferentiated features (cases; n=124) and with a defined systemic autoimmune disease (controls; n=290). Based on current clinical practice, a decision tree was developed to represent the disease course of patients with undifferentiated features in the subsequent three years. A budget impact analysis was performed to estimate the effect of implementing the screening for anti- DFS70 antibodies in the case group on the total costs. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to calculate the impact of the uncertainty of the input parameters on the results. Results Among the 124 patients in the case group, 5 (4.0%) tested positive for anti-DFS70 antibodies versus 4/290 (1.4%) in the control group (p=NS). The mean cost per patient under the current clinical practice decreased from 3,274€ to 3,192€ in our scenario. The budget impact reports cost savings of 10,288€. Conclusion The introduction of anti-DFS70 antibody test would avoid unnecessary follow-up diagnostic procedures and minimize the use of health resources generated by suspicion of a potential systemic autoimmune disease. ER -