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. 2024 Jun;25(4):579-600.
doi: 10.1007/s10198-023-01598-3. Epub 2023 Jul 7.

Quality of life and healthcare costs of patients with allergic respiratory diseases: a cross-sectional study

Vivienne Hillerich #  1 , Frederik Valbert #  2 , Silke Neusser  2 , Oliver Pfaar  3 , Ludger Klimek  4 , Annette Sperl  4 , Thomas Werfel  5 , Eckard Hamelmann  6 , Cordula Riederer  7 , Stefanie Wobbe-Ribinski  7 , Anja Neumann  2 , Jürgen Wasem  2 , Janine Biermann-Stallwitz  2
Affiliations

Quality of life and healthcare costs of patients with allergic respiratory diseases: a cross-sectional study

Vivienne Hillerich et al. Eur J Health Econ. 2024 Jun.

Abstract

Background: Allergic rhinitis (AR) and allergic asthma (AA) are chronic respiratory diseases that represent a global health problem. One aim of this study was to analyze the Health-related Quality of Life (HRQoL) of the patients in order to identify statistically significant influencing factors that determine HRQoL. Another aim was to assess and analyze data on cost-of-illness from a statutory health insurance perspective.

Methods: The EQ-5D-5L was used to evaluate the patients' HRQoL. To identify the factors influencing the HRQoL, a multinomial logistic regression analysis was conducted using groups based on the EQ-5D-5L index value as dependent variable. Routine data were analyzed to determine total healthcare costs.

Results: The average EQ-5D-5L index was 0.85 (SD 0.20). A high age, the amount of disease costs, low internal health-related control beliefs and high ozone exposure in the residential area were found to be statistically significant influencing factors for a low HRQoL, whereas low age, male sex and a good possibility to avoid the allergens were found to be statistically significant factors influencing a high HRQoL. On average, the study participants incurred annual costs of €3072 (SD: 3485), of which €699 (SD: 743) could be assigned to allergic respiratory diseases.

Conclusions: Overall, the patients in the VerSITA study showed a high level of HRQoL. The identified influencing factors can be used as starting points for improving the HRQoL of patients with allergic respiratory diseases. From the perspective of a statutory health insurance, per person expenditures for allergic respiratory diseases are rather low.

Keywords: Asthma; Health Economics; Health-Related Quality of Life; Healthcare Costs; Rhinitis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Dr. Klimek reports grants and personal fees from Allergopharma, grants and personal fees from MEDA/Mylan, personal fees from HAL Allergie, grants from ALK Abelló, grants and personal fees from LETI Pharma, grants from Stallergenes, grants from Quintiles, grants and personal fees from Sanofi, grants from ASIT biotech, grants from Lofarma, personal fees from Allergy Therapeut., grants from AstraZeneca, grants from GSK, grants from Inmunotk, personal fees from Cassella med, outside the submitted work; and Membership: AeDA, DGHNO, Deutsche Akademie für Allergologie und klinische Immunologie, HNO-BV, GPA, EAACI. Dr. Pfaar reports grants and personal fees from ALK-Abelló, grants and personal fees from Allergopharma, grants and personal fees from Stallergenes Greer, grants and personal fees from HAL Allergy Holding B.V./HAL Allergie GmbH, grants and personal fees from Bencard Allergie GmbH/Allergy Therapeutics, grants and personal fees from Lofarma, grants from Biomay, grants from Circassia, grants and personal fees from ASIT Biotech Tools S.A., grants and personal fees from Laboratorios LETI/LETI Pharma, personal fees from MEDA Pharma/MYLAN, grants and personal fees from Anergis S.A., personal fees from Mobile Chamber Experts (a GA2LEN Partner), personal fees from Indoor Biotechnologies, grants and personal fees from GlaxoSmithKline, personal fees from Astellas Pharma Global, personal fees from EUFOREA, personal fees from ROXALL Medizin, personal fees from Novartis, personal fees from Sanofi-Aventis and Sanofi-Genzyme, personal fees from Med Update Europe GmbH, personal fees from streamedup! GmbH, grants from Pohl-Boskamp, grants from Inmunotek S.L., personal fees from John Wiley and Sons, AS, personal fees from Paul-Martini-Stiftung (PMS), personal fees from Ingress-Health HWM, personal fees from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., outside the submitted work. The remaining authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

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