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. 2017 Aug 18;12(1):141.
doi: 10.1186/s13023-017-0695-0.

Social/economic costs and health-related quality of life in patients with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in Spain

Julio López-Bastida  1 , Luz María Peña-Longobardo  2 , Isaac Aranda-Reneo  3 , Eduardo Tizzano  4 , Mark Sefton  5 , Juan Oliva-Moreno  3
Affiliations

Social/economic costs and health-related quality of life in patients with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in Spain

Julio López-Bastida et al. Orphanet J Rare Dis. .

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to determine the economic burden and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of patients with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) and their caregivers in Spain.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional and retrospective study of patients diagnosed with SMA in Spain. We adopted a bottom up, prevalence approach design to study patients with SMA. The patient's caregivers completed an anonymous questionnaire regarding their socio-demographic characteristics, use of healthcare services and non-healthcare services. Costs were estimated from a societal perspective (including healthcare costs and non-healthcare costs), and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) was assessed using the EQ-5D questionnaire. The main caregivers also answered a questionnaire on their characteristics and on their HRQOL.

Results: A total of 81 caregivers of patients with different subtypes of SMA completed the questionnaire. Based on the reference unitary prices for 2014, the average annual costs per patient were € 33,721. Direct healthcare costs were € 10,882 (representing around 32.3% of the total cost) and the direct non-healthcare costs were € 22,839 (67.7% of the total cost). The mean EQ-5D social tariff score for patients was 0.16, and the mean score of the EQ-5D visual analogue scale was 54. The mean EQ-5D social tariff score for caregivers was 0.49 and their mean score on the EQ-5D visual analogue scale was 69.

Conclusion: The results highlight the burden that SMA has in terms of costs and decreased HRQOL, not only for patients but also for their caregivers. In particular, the substantial social/economic burden is mostly attributable to the high direct non-healthcare costs.

Keywords: Cost-of-illness; Economic burden; Health-related quality of life; Spain; Spinal muscular atrophy.

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Competing interest

The authors declare that they have received funding from BIOGEN.

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