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  • What We've Learned
The costs of early spondyloarthritis
Other-Types-of-Arthritis-6.5-1
Scientific Study Title:
Costs of early spondyloarthritis: estimates from the first 3 years of the DESIR cohort.
Start Date:
  • June 2012
End Date:
  • January 2016
Research Category
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Aslam Anis-Website Headshot-400x400
Aslam Anis
Senior Scientist, Health Economics, PhD, FCAHS

What did we do?

Execution of Research

SpA (short for spondyloarthritis) is a type of inflammatory arthritis that affects the back, hips, and often other parts of the body. The DESIR cohort is a group of 708 French SpA patients who are responding to follow-up questions about their costs and health. This study started the process for researchers to start looking at the results of these questions. This included 1) building a database of costs and health information, and 2) describing patterns in costs from medication, doctor and hospital visits, and other health resource use. This was important to do because much of the available information about costs among SpA patients is outdated. This means it does not include the costs from new biologic drugs (‘anti-TNF’ therapies), which are expensive.

What are the next steps?

This study created a database of cost and health information that will let researchers look into many questions that affect SpA patients. The researchers also showed some important patterns in costs among SpA patients. For example, over 50% of total costs among patients in the DESIR cohort were from biologic drugs, even though only one in four patients is taking a biologic. Costs among SpA patients were not related to their X-Ray or MRI results, which means researchers still have more to learn about how disease severity affects costs.

How Can People Get Involved?

Involvement

This study was led by a student researcher as part of a PhD thesis. A total of 7 researchers participated in the study.

Related Publications

Harvard S, Guh D, Bansback N, Richette P, Dougados M, Aniis A, Fautrel B. Costs of early spondyloarthritis: estimates from the first 3 years of the DESIR cohort. RMD Open. 2016 Apr 4;2(1):e000230.

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