RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Asthma-related healthcare utilization and costs by blood eosinophil levels among adults with persistent asthma
JF European Respiratory Journal
JO Eur Respir J
FD European Respiratory Society
SP PA1593
DO 10.1183/13993003.congress-2015.PA1593
VO 46
IS suppl 59
A1 Trung Tran
A1 Jianbin Mao
A1 Jeffrey McPheeters
A1 Duane Cobenais
A1 Sarowar Golam
A1 Xiao Xu
A1 Rachel Halpern
YR 2015
UL http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/46/suppl_59/PA1593.abstract
AB Background: Elevated blood eosinophil (EOS) count is a risk factor for future exacerbation in adults with persistent asthma. We investigated whether a relationship also exists between EOS and healthcare utilization (HRU) and cost in these patients.Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using claims data on commercial and Medicare Advantage health plan adults (age≥18 years) who met the HEDIS persistent asthma criteria for 2 consecutive years during 2007-2012 and had a EOS determination at baseline; the index date was January 1 of the 3rd year. Future (1-year post-index) asthma-related HRU and cost were described and compared between baseline EOS levels using different cut-off points (150, 300, or 400 cells/µL).Results: The study included 37,830 subjects. Patients with higher baseline EOS count at all cut-off points had higher frequency of future asthma-related office visits, emergency department (ED) visits, inpatients, and pharmacy fills. Asthma-related total, medical, and pharmacy costs were all higher in patients with higher EOS (Table). There is a trend toward higher future HRU and cost with increasing baseline EOS.Conclusions: Higher future disease burden was observed in asthma patients with increasing EOS count, consistent with previous findings that elevated EOS is a risk factor for future asthma exacerbations.