Burden of illness for patients with primary biliary cholangitis: an observational study of clinical characteristics and healthcare resource utilization.

To evaluate the clinical characteristics and healthcare resource utilization for acute care and its costs for patients with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) with or without cirrhosis. This retrospective observational cohort study was conducted using two datasets (Komodo's Healthcare Map™ [Komodo Health] and Optum Clinformatics Data Mart [CDM] database) between 2015 and 2023. Patients (≥18 years) with PBC were identified based on ≥1 inpatient or ≥2 outpatient claims. Healthcare resource utilization for acute care (hospitalizations and emergency department [ED] visits [not leading to hospitalization]) were assessed in both datasets, and associated medical costs were evaluated in Optum CDM. In Komodo Health, of the 29,758 patients with PBC (mean age: 59.2 years), 21.6% had cirrhosis and 50.4% of patients with cirrhosis had Medicaid or Medicare coverage. Of the total 8143 patients in Optum CDM (mean age: 67.0 years), 20.7% had cirrhosis, and most were enrolled in Medicare (69.7%). There was a larger proportion of men in the cirrhosis group compared with the no-cirrhosis group in Komodo Health (31.7 vs 16.3%) and Optum CDM (29.7 vs 16.5%). Annually, among patients with cirrhosis who had a hospitalization, 69.3% had additional hospitalizations, and among patients who had an ED visit, 52.9% had additional ED visits in Komodo Health; similar results were observed in Optum CDM. Among patients with at least one acute-care event, the mean annual acute-care costs with and without cirrhosis were $113,568 and $47,436, respectively. Data from two large healthcare claims databases showed that the majority of patients who had at least one acute-care event experienced additional acute-care events, particularly among those with cirrhosis. Timely treatment to avoid hospitalization and disease progression may help mitigate the clinical and economic burden for patients with PBC.