Incremental healthcare utilization and expenditures for allergic rhinitis in the United States

✍ Scribed by Neil Bhattacharyya

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 88 KB
• Volume: 121
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0023-852X
• DOI: 10.1002/lary.22034

✦ Synopsis

Objective: Determine incremental increases in healthcare expenditures and utilization associated with allergic rhinitis (AR).

Methods: Patients reporting a diagnosis of AR were extracted from the 2007 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey medical conditions file and linked to the consolidated expenditures file. AR patients were then compared to non-AR patients determining differences in healthcare utilization: office visits, emergency facility visits, and prescriptions filled, as well as differences in healthcare expenditures: total healthcare costs, office-based costs, prescription medication costs, and self-expenditures using demographically and comorbidity adjusted multivariate models.

Results: An estimated 17.8 6 0.72 million adult patients reported AR in 2007 (7.9 6 0.3% of the U.S. population). The additional incremental healthcare utilizations associated with AR relative to non-AR patients for office visits, emergency facility visits, and number of prescriptions filled were 3.25 6 0.40, 0.01 6 0.02, and 8.95 6 0.80, respectively (P < .