Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA.
Muscle Nerve. 2011 Dec;44(6):907-11. doi: 10.1002/mus.22212.
Little is known about the costs of managing rare diseases, and comprehensive healthcare costs have not been reported for myasthenia gravis (MG). We evaluated the direct costs and healthcare resource utilization in insured MG patients.
Costs were obtained from 1288 patients diagnosed with MG who were identified from the Accordant Health Services nationwide medical and pharmacy claims database.
Average annual medical/pharmacy claims costs per patient were: $6710/$1196 (age 0-19 years); $17,949/$19,573 (20-39 years); $15,112/$12,498 (40-64 years); and $12,597/$8,089 (65(+) years). Total annual MG-related pharmacy costs were $9.4 million; IVIg accounted for 85% of all MG-related pharmacy costs. Non-steroidal immunosuppressives, cholinesterase inhibitors, and corticosteroids accounted for 9.3%, 5.7%, and 0.2% of pharmacy costs, respectively.
Costs related to the treatment of MG are higher than those of many other chronic neurological diseases. A large percentage of costs result from IVIg use, particularly among a subset of patients who receive frequent IVIg infusions.
对于罕见病的管理成本知之甚少，并且尚未报告重症肌无力 (MG) 的综合医疗保健成本。我们评估了有保险的 MG 患者的直接成本和医疗资源利用情况。
从 Accordant Health Services 全国性医疗和药房索赔数据库中确定的 1288 名确诊为 MG 的患者中获得了成本数据。
每位患者的年平均医疗/药房索赔费用为：$6710/$1196（0-19 岁）；$17949/$19573（20-39 岁）；$15112/$12498（40-64 岁）；$12597/$8089（65 岁及以上）。MG 相关的年度药房总成本为 940 万美元；静脉注射免疫球蛋白 (IVIg) 占所有 MG 相关药房成本的 85%。非甾体类免疫抑制剂、胆碱酯酶抑制剂和皮质类固醇分别占药房成本的 9.3%、5.7%和 0.2%。
与 MG 治疗相关的成本高于许多其他慢性神经疾病。IVIg 的使用导致了很大一部分成本，尤其是在接受频繁 IVIg 输注的患者亚组中。
