Economic impact of IPF exacerbations in Spain: prospective, observational, multicentric study (OASIS study)

Abstract

Aims: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive and fatal lung disease that includes acute exacerbations (AE-IPF). AE-IPF lead to a significant decline in lung function, higher mortality rates and use of health resources. This study aims to estimate the economic impact of AE-IPF in Spain.

Methods: Prospective, observational, multicentric real world data study of patient records with confirmed IPF, over 12 months of follow-up in 28 centres. Annual IPF-associated costs included direct costs (e.g. primary and secondary care visits, outpatient visits, emergency visits, AE-IPF related costs) and indirect costs (days off work and informal caregiver).

Results: A total of 204 consecutive IPF patients were included. Patients were classified according to whether they had suffered at least 1 AE-IPF during the study (22; 10.8 %) or not (166; 81.4%). Patients who suffered ≥1 AE-IPF had a significantly greater use of health resources (e.g. specialized visits, emergency visits, hospitalisation, test). Statistically significant differences were observed regarding the mean (SD) total annual IPF-related cost for patients who experienced ≥1 AE-IPF compared with those without exacerbations: € 31763 (€ 19766.75) vs € 22978 (€ 14831.92); p=0.0399, mainly driven by increased direct health IPF-related costs. Over 12 months, FVC % predicted substantially declined in patients who suffered ≥1 AE-IPF compared to those without exacerbations (relative FVC decline 10.14% vs 2.21%; p= NS, probably due to small sample size).

Conclusion: Preventing or avoiding AE-IPF is important in order to reduce the use of health resources and decline of patient's FVC, thus decreasing the economic cost of IPF.