RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Health economics of COPD: First results of the new German COSYCONET cohort compared to population-based controls from KORA
JF European Respiratory Journal
JO Eur Respir J
FD European Respiratory Society
SP 4440
VO 44
IS Suppl 58
A1 Margarethe Wacker
A1 Matthias Hunger
A1 Holger Schulz
A1 Joachim Heinrich
A1 Annette Peters
A1 Armin Koch
A1 Rudolf A. Jörres
A1 Claus Vogelmeier
A1 Rolf Holle
YR 2014
UL http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/4440.abstract
AB BackgroundThe new German multicenter COPD cohort COSYCONET is studying health economic questions of COPD in terms of healthcare utilization, absence from work and health-related quality of life (HRQL). We present first results comparing patients from the clinical cohort to population-based controls and analyze the influence of disease severity.MethodsSelf-reported data on healthcare utilization, work absence and on HRQL (measured by EQ-5D-3L) from the baseline examination were compared across patients in four COPD grades (GOLD definition, % predicted values according to ECSC) and to controls without airflow limitation from two pooled studies from the KORA research platform.ResultsDescriptive analysis of a partial dataset (60% of study sample, n=1383 cases, 1610 controls, mean age 64.8 yrs, 54% males) showed that patients with COPD grade 1-4 reported on average 1.9/2.2/1.8/1.9 times more physician visits and 2.1/2.8/4.1/6.5 times more hospital days than controls without COPD. The number of taken medications and of days with work absence was also considerably higher for COPD patients than for controls and increased with disease stage (up to factor 2.7/7.5 compared to controls). Mean EQ-5D utility values decreased from 0.90 in controls to 0.83/0.84/0.81/0.74 in patients with COPD grades 1-4. Full adjusted results based on the complete study sample will be available at the conference.ConclusionPatients with COPD show extensive healthcare utilization, work absence and limitations in HRQL even for COPD grade 1. Prevention programs and interventions aiming at delaying disease progression are needed to reduce the burden of COPD on patients and healthcare systems.