Health care costs and resource utilization among patients with myasthenia gravis in the United States

Abstract

Background: Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a rare neuromuscular disorder with an estimated prevalence of 37 per 100,000 individuals in the United States. Despite patients with MG using a wide range of health care services, there is a lack of information regarding health care costs and health care resource utilization (HCRU).

Objective: To gain insight into the health care cost and HCRU associated with an MG diagnosis from the US payer perspective.

Methods: Patients with MG, defined by at least 2 claims for MG diagnoses, were identified from a commercial and Medicare claims database between 2016 and 2021. Controls who were never diagnosed with MG were matched at a 10:1 ratio with each patient with MG based on baseline demographic and clinical characteristics. The primary outcomes were 1-year total health care costs associated with MG diagnosis, and the secondary outcomes were 1-year HCRU associated with MG diagnosis. Difference-in-difference estimates from a multivariable linear regression model were used to report adjusted health care costs and HCRU.

Results: The final analytic cohort included 3,700 patients with MG and 37,000 controls. On average, patients were aged 54 years, with 60% being female. The difference-in-difference estimates of the total health care cost for MG diagnosis in commercial and Medicare patients were $25,799 and $4,927, respectively (P < 0.01). MG diagnosis had significant impacts on HCRU across all health care settings.

Conclusions: We quantified a significant increase in health care costs and HCRU in the first year following diagnosis of MG compared with the matched cohort. Future studies can further investigate long-term health care costs associated with patients with MG.

FIGURE 1

Patient Cohort

FIGURE 2

Total Health Care Costs, 1 Year Before and After Index Date and DID Estimates (Commercial and Medicare Populations)

FIGURE 3

HCRU Associated With MG Diagnosis, DID Estimates (Commercial and Medicare Populations)