Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Oct 4;16(1):148.
doi: 10.1007/s11657-021-01021-5.

Annual out-of-pocket expenditure associated with healthcare use among Australian older women with osteoporosis: a cross-sectional study

Jon Adams  1 , Jessica Bayes  2 , Mahdie Hosseini  1 , David Sibbritt  1
Affiliations

Annual out-of-pocket expenditure associated with healthcare use among Australian older women with osteoporosis: a cross-sectional study

Jon Adams et al. Arch Osteoporos. .

Abstract

This research aimed to determine the health care cost and utilisation of older Australian women with osteoporosis. A wide range of healthcare services were used and approximately AU$593.9 was spent over a 12-month period for these services. This highlights the significant cost burden of osteoporosis on the healthcare system.

Purpose: Osteoporosis is a common skeletal condition among women that has a considerable impact on quality of life. The purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence of healthcare use and to estimate associated out-of-pocket expenditure for the management of osteoporosis in older Australian women.

Methods: Data was obtained from 393 Australian women from the 45 and Up Study who had osteoporosis. The women were asked about healthcare use for their osteoporosis, including conventional medicine, complementary medicine, and self-care practices or self-care products, and associated out-of-pocket expenditure for that use over 12 months.

Results: The average age of participants was 72.0 years. Over a 12-month period, the majority of participants (72%) consulted a doctor for their osteoporosis, 24% consulted an allied health practitioner, and 20% consulted a complementary medicine practitioner. Participants had a mean of 6.8 consultations with healthcare practitioners in the previous 12 months for the osteoporosis. In addition, 46% participants used three or more types of complementary medicine products/practices in the previous 12 months. Overall, the participants incurred a (arithmetic) mean ofAU$594 (median = $350; inter-quartile range = $450) in out-of-pocket expenditure for healthcare use over the 12-month period.

Conclusions: Women with osteoporosis use a wide range of healthcare services that are associated with significant annual out-of-pocket expenditure. Preventive strategies can help decrease the cost burden of osteoporosis on the healthcare system.

Keywords: Complementary medicine; Healthcare; Osteoporosis; Out-of-pocket expenditure.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Tu KN, Lie JD, Wan CKV et al (2018) Osteoporosis: a review of treatment options. Pharmacy and Therapeutics 43(2):92 - PubMed - PMC
    1. Viswanathan HN, Curtis JR, Yu J et al (2012) Direct healthcare costs of osteoporosis-related fractures in managed care patients receiving pharmacological osteoporosis therapy. Appl Health Econ Health Policy 10(3):163–173 - DOI
    1. Fujiwara S, Zhao X, Teoh C, Jaffe DH, Taguchi Y (2019) Disease burden of fractures among patients with osteoporosis in Japan: health-related quality of life, work productivity and activity impairment, healthcare resource utilization, and economic costs. J Bone Miner Metab 37(2):307–318 - DOI
    1. Ha Y-C, Kim H-Y, Jang S, Lee Y-K, Kim T-Y (2017) Economic burden of osteoporosis in South Korea: claim data of the national health insurance service from 2008 to 2011. Calcif Tissue Int 101(6):623–630 - DOI
    1. Henry MJ, Pasco JA, Nicholson GC, Kotowicz MA (2011) Prevalence of osteoporosis in Australian men and women: Geelong Osteoporosis Study. Med J Aust 195(6):321–322 - DOI

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources