What is the economic burden of delayed axial spondyloarthritis diagnosis in the UK?

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Zanghelini, Fernando, Xydopoulos, George, Wilsher, Stephanie howard, Afolabi, Oyewumi, Webb, Dale, Eddison, Joe, Ingram, Thomas A., Clark, Clare, Hamilton, Jill, Sengupta, Raj, Gaffney, Karl and Fordham, Richard (2025) What is the economic burden of delayed axial spondyloarthritis diagnosis in the UK? Rheumatology. ISSN 1462-0324

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Abstract

Objectives: To develop an economic model to determine the annual cost of delayed axial spondyloarthritis (axial SpA) diagnosis in the UK, adopting both National Health Service (NHS) and societal perspectives. Methods: We developed a Markov economic model to estimate the costs of delayed axial SpA diagnosis in the UK. Model parameters were sourced from a 2016 National Axial Spondyloarthritis Society patient survey, anonymised patient level data, published literature and expert opinion. A literature defined, mixed cohort (64% male) of people assumed to have axial SpA, whose age of symptom onset was 26 years, were targeted. To assess the robustness of the results, base case and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were performed. Results: In a simulated cohort of 1,000 patients, with a mean time to diagnosis of 8.5 years, we estimate the cumulative costs of delayed diagnosis per person living with axial SpA to be £193,512 (95% CI: 108,770—306,789). The costs were led by productivity losses (65.1%) and out-of-pocket expenses (31.3%) The total annual cost resulting from delayed axial SpA diagnosis in the UK has been estimated at £3.1 billion and £12.5 billion, based on a prevalence of 0.3% (Assessment of SpondyloArthritis international Society classification criteria) and 1.2% (European Spondyloarthropathy Study Group classification criteria), respectively. Conclusion: Delayed axial SpA diagnosis carries high costs for society due to productivity losses. Early diagnosis and treatment could offer significant benefits to the patient and potentially reduce productivity losses; however, future research is needed to evaluate the long-term health economic impact.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Data availability statement: The data underlying this article may be shared on request to the corresponding author. Funding information: This work was supported by UCB Pharma Ltd [Grant number: UK-N-DA-RH-2100001].
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Population Health Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Dementia & Complexity in Later Life Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Health Promotion Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Health Economics
Related URLs:	https://academic.oup.com/rheumatology/ad...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	29 Apr 2025 13:30
Last Modified:	04 May 2025 06:31
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/99132
DOI:	10.1093/rheumatology/keaf226

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