Direct Medical Costs of Chronic Urticaria in a Private Health Organization of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

BACKGROUND: Scarce studies address the issue of resource consumption and direct health care costs of patients diagnosed with adult-onset chronic urticaria (CU).

OBJECTIVES: To estimate medical resource consumption and direct health care costs of affected patients in a private health maintenance organization in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

METHODS: Patients diagnosed with adult-onset CU (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification code 708.1, 708.8, or 708.9) and who were members of the Italian Hospital Medical Care Program were included in the study. All data on hospitalizations, drug prescription, outpatient episodes, consultations, and investigations/tests in the 12 months before inclusion in the study were considered for the estimation of medical resource consumption and direct health care costs. Third-quarter 2014 costs were obtained from the Italian Hospital Medical Care Program and converted into US dollars (using the November 2014 exchange rate).

RESULTS: A total of 232 patients were included in the study. The mean age at diagnosis was 54.2 ± 20.0 years, and the mean disease duration was 5.4 ± 2.6 years (range, 2-22 years). Of the total number of patients, 75% had allergists as their usual source of care, 23% had dermatologists, 18% had internists, and 3% had rheumatologists. Only 7.8% of the patients had an emergency room admission to manage CU symptoms. To manage the disease, 57.8% of patients used antihistamines and 11.6% used oral corticosteroids. The most relevant source of cost was the medical treatment received, followed by physician visits. The average yearly direct cost per patient was US $1015 ± $752 (95% confidence interval 803-2003).

CONCLUSIONS: This is the first Argentine study that evaluated the costs of CU considering the direct medical costs of the disease. The study provides information on resource utilization and the disease-related economic burden, which is valuable to better understand CU in the local setting. Future research that takes into consideration the direct and indirect costs of the disease will expand knowledge and improve management of the disease.