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Objective: To assess treatment persistence, hospitalization outcomes and mean healthcare costs of geriatric major depressive disorder (MDD) patients treated with escitalopram compared to other selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs).Research design and methods: Patients aged ≥ 65 years with at least one inpatient claim or two independent claims associated with MDD diagnosis were identified in the IHCIS National Managed Care Database (2003–2005). Patients were continuously enrolled for at least ≥ 12 months, filled at least one prescription for an SSRI/SNRI and did not use any second-generation antidepressant during the 6 months pre-index date. Unadjusted and multivariate analyses adjusting for baseline characteristics were conducted.Main outcome measures: Treatment persistence, hospitalization utilization, and average prescription drug, medical, and total healthcare costs were compared between patients initiated on escitalopram versus other SSRI/SNRIs.Results: Escitalopram-treated patients (N = 459) were less likely to discontinue treatment (HR = 0.85, p = 0.012) or switch to another second-generation antidepressant (HR = 0.76, p = 0.006) compared to patients treated with other SSRI/SNRIs (N = 1517). Escitalopram-treated patients had 39% fewer hospitalization days (p = 0.004). Both groups had similar mean prescription drug costs ($1659 vs. $1630, p = 0.687). After controlling for baseline characteristics, escitalopram-treated patients had lower mean total medical service costs ($9425 vs. $12 703, p < 0.001) and mean total healthcare costs ($11 043 vs. $14 163, p < 0.001).Limitations: This study''s limitations include its small sample size, short observational periods and exclusivity of indirect costs.Conclusions: Geriatric patients treated with escitalopram had higher treatment persistence, fewer hospitalization days and lower total healthcare costs than patients on other SSRI/SNRIs after controlling for baseline characteristics. Most of the cost savings were due to reductions in hospitalizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To compare escitalopram versus citalopram for the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD) in geriatric patients.Research design and methods: Administrative claims data (2003–2005) were analyzed for patients aged ≥65 years with at least one inpatient claim or two independent medical claims associated with MDD diagnosis. Patients were continuously enrolled for at least 12 months, filled at least one prescription for citalopram or escitalopram and had no second generation antidepressant use during the 6-month pre-index date. Contingency table analysis and survival analysis were used to compare outcomes between the two treatment groups.Main outcome measures: Treatment persistence, hospitalization utilization, and prescription drug, medical, and total healthcare costs were analyzed. Outcomes were compared between patients initiated on escitalopram and those initiated on citalopram both descriptively and using multivariate analysis adjusting for baseline characteristics.Results: Among 691 geriatric patients, escitalopram-treated patients (n=459) were less likely to discontinue treatment (hazard ratio [HR]=0.83, p=0.049) or switch to another second generation antidepressant (HR=0.62, p=0.001) compared to patients treated with citalopram (n=232). Patients treated with escitalopram had a significantly lower hospitalization rate (31.2% vs. 38.8%, p=0.045) and 66% fewer hospitalization days based on negative binomial regression (p<0.001). While escitalopram patients had comparable prescription drug costs, they had lower total medical service costs (regression: $9748 vs. $19 208, p<0.001) and lower total healthcare costs (regression: $11 434 vs. $20 601, p<0.001).Limitations: This study''s limitations include its small sample size, short observational periods and exclusivity of indirect costs.Conclusions: Geriatric patients treated with escitalopram had better treatment persistence, fewer hospitalizations, and lower medical and total healthcare costs than patients treated with citalopram. Most of the cost reduction was attributable to significantly lower hospitalizations and total medical costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To describe dosing patterns for tumor necrosis factor (TNF) antagonists in patients with rheumatoid arthritis from health care provider and payer point of interest.Research design and methods: Using privately insured US claims data from 31 large employers covering 31 companies across the US, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients were identified and three cohorts were defined based on first TNF-antagonist treatment (adalimumab, etanercept, or infliximab) administered after January 1, 2003. Dosageadjustment patterns were assessed during the following 12-month period. Changes in dosage (both increases and decreases) and maintenance of a stable dosage were evaluated. For the health care provider point of interest, a new algorithm was developed to assess treatment patterns with chronic injectable therapies that incorporated the potential inconsistency between days of supply and prescription-gap data, thus providing the actual use of TNFantagonist treatment. For the payer, usage data addressed whether the TNF antagonist was used at a greater dosage than recommended. Differences in baseline characteristics and dosage change rates between cohorts were tested using Chi-Square tests for categorical variables and Wilcoxon tests for continuous variables.Results: From the health care provider point of interest, 83.4% of adalimumab-treated patients (n = 205) initially received the recommended dosage, 10.2% received less, and 6.3% received more; 87.7% of etanercept-treated patients (n = 455) initially received the recommended dosage, 11.2% received less, and 1.1% received more; and 83.8% of infliximab-treated patients (n = 148) started with 2–4 vials (the recommended dosage is based on the weight of the patient, not total milligrams). All treatments had similar dosage decrease and discontinuation rates. Maintenance of stable dosage was lower for infliximab (20.9%) than adalimumab (37.1%) and etanercept (39.1%); both p < 0.01. The infliximab dosage-increase rate (35.1%) was greater than adalimumab (3.9%) and etanercept (0); both p < 0.01. From the payer point of interest, dosage-increase rate was greater for infliximab (28.3%) than adalimumab (8.7%) and etanercept (6.9%), both p < 0.01.Conclusions: Infliximab had greater dosage-increase rates than adalimumab and etanercept. Adalimumab and etanercept had similar dosage-increase rates. All treatments had similar dosage-decrease and discontinuation rates. Maintenance of stable dosage was lower for infliximab than for adalimumab and etanercept. The study has the usual limitation of claims data analysis in that clinical details might be insufficient to draw causal inference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Obesity is highly prevalent among patients with type 2 diabetes. Unfortunately, weight gain may also be a consequence of some antidiabetic medications. Although clinical benefits of weight loss have been established, the economic consequence of weight change among patients with type 2 diabetes is unclear.Objectives: The objective was to measure 1-year total and diabetes-related health care costs associated with weight change during the preceding 6-month period among type 2 diabetic patients on antidiabetic therapy.Methods: Administrative claims, electronic laboratory data and medical chart information were abstracted for continuously enrolled adults with type 2 diabetes from an health maintenance organization (HMO) for the period from July 1, 1997 through October 31, 2005. To assess the economic impact of weight change, three regression models were applied to estimate the following: (1) the effect of weight change in general (one-slope model); (2) the different effects of weight gain and no weight gain (two-slope model); and (3) the different effects of weight gain and no weight gain (i.e., no change or weight loss) among obese and non-obese patients (four-slope model). Patients included in the study had a baseline weight measurement and a second weight measurement approximately 6 months later. They were also required to be on at least one antidiabetic drug therapy within 1 month around the baseline weight measurement date (index date). Based on the measured weight change, patients were classified into two groups – weight gainers and non-weight gainer. Total health care cost and diabetes-related cost were measured during the 1-year period following the second weight measurement and were adjusted to 2004 dollars by the medical component of the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Generalized linear models with log link function and gamma distribution were applied to assess the impacts of weight change on the 1-year total health care cost as well as 1-year diabetes-related cost. All models controlled for patients'' baseline demographics, comorbidities, body mass index (BMI), glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), and prior resource utilization.Results: The study included 458 patients, of whom 224 (48.9%) experienced minimum weight gain of 1 pound between the two weight measurements. The average 1-year total health care cost following the second weight measure was $6382 and the diabetes-related cost was $2002. The mean total health care cost was $7260 for the weight-gainers and $5541 for the non-weight gainers (p = 0.046), and the mean diabetes-related cost, respectively, was $2141 and $1869 (p = 0.006). Results from the models showed that one percentage point of weight change was positively associated with a 3.1% ($213, p < 0.01) change in total health care cost. When weight gain and no gain were modeled separately, one percentage point of weight loss was associated with a 3.6% ($256, p < 0.05) decrease in total health care cost and a 5.8% ($131, p < 0.01) decrease in diabetes-related cost. However, one percentage point of weight gain was not associated with significant increase in either total health care or diabetes-related cost. Further, results from the model with interactions between weight change and obesity status revealed that the economic benefit of weight loss was more pronounced in the obese group (BMI ≥ 30). Log likelihood ratio tests showed that the one-slope model for total health care cost and the two-slope model for diabetes-related cost are the appropriate models of choice.Conclusions: Weight loss significantly reduced diabetes-related costs. Controlling for baseline factors in the regression model, the 1-year total health care cost following 1% weight loss (or gain) was $213 cost decrease (or increase). Diabetes-related cost did not appear to be associated with weight gain. Economic benefit of weight loss was evident among type 2 diabetic patients on antidiabetic therapy, especially among obese patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To compare the cost of care for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients treated with adalimumab, infliximab, and etanercept.Research design and methods: RA patients were identified from a privately insured database. Three mutually exclusive treatment cohorts were formed based on the date of first tumor necrosis factor (TNF) antagonist treatment (index date) after January 1, 2003. Baseline characteristics were assessed in the 3-month pretreatment period. Healthcare (i.e., medical service and prescription medications) utilization and cost were assessed for the following 12 months. RA-related medical cost included the total cost for medical service associated with RA diagnosis. RA-related healthcare cost included RA-related medical and drug cost. Uneven distribution of baseline characteristics were adjusted with the propensity score method. Cost was compared between treatment cohorts.Results: Twelve-month TNF-antagonist therapy cost ($12 853 vs. 17 299, p = 0.002), total RA-related drug cost ($13 794 vs. 17 647, p = 0.006), total RA-related medical cost ($971 vs. 2920, p < 0.001), total RA-related healthcare cost ($14 764 vs. 20 566, p = 0.002), and total drug cost ($16 210 vs. 19 769, p = 0.028) were significantly less for adalimumab (n = 217) than infliximab (n = 234). Twelve-month healthcare cost for adalimumab was comparable to etanercept (n = 546).Conclusions: Annual healthcare cost for adalimumab patients was significantly less than for infliximab patients and was comparable to etanercept patients. This analysis is subject to the usual limitation of claims data analyses in that few clinical details are available and causal inference conclusions are limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]