RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Trajectory of Healthcare Resource Utilization in Giant Cell Arteritis: A Population-based Study
JF The Journal of Rheumatology
JO J Rheumatol
FD The Journal of Rheumatology
SP 1307
OP 1313
DO 10.3899/jrheum.201131
VO 48
IS 8
A1 Aladdin J. Mohammad
A1 Aleksandra Turkiewicz
A1 Pavlos Stamatis
A1 Carl Turesson
A1 Martin Englund
A1 Ali Kiadaliri
YR 2021
UL http://www.jrheum.org/content/48/8/1307.abstract
AB Objective To estimate the healthcare resource utilization (HRU) in patients with giant cell arteritis (GCA) compared with the general population in southern Sweden.Methods The study sample comprised 653 patients with GCA along with 10 age-, sex-, and residency area–matched reference subjects per patient. Data on public and private healthcare consultations and hospitalizations were extracted from the Skåne Healthcare Register. We assessed trajectories of primary and specialist healthcare visits, as well as hospital admissions and inpatient days from 3 years before through 5 years after the date of GCA diagnosis for patients and matched references. HRU was analyzed using generalized estimating equations adjusted for sex, age at the index year, calendar year of diagnosis, education, income, marital status, place of birth, and Charlson Comorbidity Index. Inverse probability weighting was used to account for dropout during study.Results Patients with GCA had higher rates of healthcare visits than the references from the year before GCA diagnosis and up to 4 years after diagnosis, with the largest relative (rate ratio 1.85, 95% CI 1.68–2.05) and absolute (mean difference 10.2, 95% CI 8.1–12.3 visits per person) differences in the year of diagnosis. Similar trajectories were observed for primary and specialist healthcare visits. For hospital admissions and inpatient days, the differences disappeared 1 year after diagnosis date.Conclusion Patients with GCA utilized healthcare services at a significantly higher rate than the reference population. The increased utilization among Swedish patients with GCA was evident 1 year before and prolonged up to 4 years after diagnosis date.