Department of Rare, Immunologic, Hematologic Diseases and Transfusion Medicine, Research Center of Immunopathology and Rare Diseases (CMID), Giovanni Bosco Hospital and University of Turin, Italy.
Autoimmun Rev. 2013 Jun;12(8):835-8. doi: 10.1016/j.autrev.2012.11.009. Epub 2012 Dec 3.
The burden of illness of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) falls on patients, families and society through the direct costs, indirect costs, and intangible costs. A large number of RA cost-of-illness studies have been performed in recent decades with discrepant results due to patient heterogeneity, and different health-care organization, employment rate or social support, job opportunities, and methodologies used to calculate the costs. The greatest burden of RA is the indirect and the intangible costs, but how to estimate them remains controversial. The systematic use of traditional disease modifying anti rheumatic drugs has changed the evolution of the disease. However, a considerable improvement in the management of RA has been obtained since the advent of biologic response modifiers. The use of these drugs, which have demonstrated greater efficacy than conventional therapies, have tripled the direct costs of RA, which rose from about € 4000 to roughly € 12,000, in a period of five years, from 2000 to 2005. The present paper is aimed to examine the effects of this change in therapeutic strategy.
类风湿关节炎（RA）的疾病负担通过直接成本、间接成本和无形成本落在患者、家庭和社会身上。近几十年来，由于患者异质性以及不同的医疗保健组织、就业率或社会支持、工作机会以及用于计算成本的方法，已经进行了大量的 RA 成本效益研究，但结果存在差异。RA 的最大负担是间接和无形成本，但如何估计它们仍然存在争议。传统疾病修饰抗风湿药物的系统使用改变了疾病的演变。然而，自从生物反应调节剂问世以来，RA 的治疗已经取得了相当大的改善。这些药物的使用，其疗效优于传统疗法，使 RA 的直接成本增加了两倍，从 2000 年到 2005 年的五年间，直接成本从大约 4000 欧元增加到大约 12000 欧元。本文旨在探讨这一治疗策略变化的影响。
