Incremental health care costs for chronic pain in Ontario, Canada

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Abstract

Little is known about the economic burden of chronic pain and how chronic pain affects health care utilization. We aimed to estimate the annual per-person incremental medical cost and health care utilization for chronic pain in the Ontario population from the perspective of the public payer. We performed a retrospective cohort study using Ontario health care databases and the electronically linked Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) from 2000 to 2011. We identified subjects aged ≥12 years from the CCHS with chronic pain and closely matched them to individuals without pain using propensity score matching methods. We used linked data to determine mean 1-year per-person health care costs and utilization for each group and mean incremental cost for chronic pain. All costs are reported in 2014 Canadian dollars. After matching, we had 19,138 pairs of CCHS respondents with and without chronic pain. The average age was 55 years (SD = 18) and 61% were female. The incremental cost to manage chronic pain was $1742 per person (95% confidence interval [CI], $1488-$2020), 51% more than the control group. The largest contributor to the incremental cost was hospitalization ($514; 95% CI, $364-$683). Incremental costs were the highest in those with severe pain ($3960; 95% CI, $3186-$4680) and in those with most activity limitation ($4365; 95% CI, $3631-$5147). The per-person cost to manage chronic pain is substantial and more than 50% higher than a comparable patient without chronic pain. Costs are higher in people with more severe pain and activity limitations.

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Most cited references 34

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Expenditures and health status among adults with back and neck problems.

Brook I Martin, Richard A Deyo, Sohail K Mirza … (2008)

Back and neck problems are among the symptoms most commonly encountered in clinical practice. However, few studies have examined national trends in expenditures for back and neck problems or related these trends to health status measures. To estimate inpatient, outpatient, emergency department, and pharmacy expenditures related to back and neck problems in the United States from 1997 through 2005 and to examine associated trends in health status. Age- and sex-adjusted analysis of the nationally representative Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) from 1997 to 2005 using complex survey regression methods. The MEPS is a household survey of medical expenditures weighted to represent national estimates. Respondents were US adults (> 17 years) who self-reported back and neck problems (referred to as "spine problems" based on MEPS descriptions and International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification definitions). Spine-related expenditures for health services (inflation-adjusted); annual surveys of self-reported health status. National estimates were based on annual samples of survey respondents with and without self-reported spine problems from 1997 through 2005. A total of 23 045 respondents were sampled in 1997, including 3139 who reported spine problems. In 2005, the sample included 22 258 respondents, including 3187 who reported spine problems. In 1997, the mean age- and sex-adjusted medical costs for respondents with spine problems was $4695 (95% confidence interval [CI], $4181-$5209), compared with $2731 (95% CI, $2557-$2904) among those without spine problems (inflation-adjusted to 2005 dollars). In 2005, the mean age- and sex- adjusted medical expenditure among respondents with spine problems was $6096 (95% CI, $5670-$6522), compared with $3516 (95% CI, $3266-$3765) among those without spine problems. Total estimated expenditures among respondents with spine problems increased 65% (adjusted for inflation) from 1997 to 2005, more rapidly than overall health expenditures. The estimated proportion of persons with back or neck problems who self-reported physical functioning limitations increased from 20.7% (95% CI, 19.9%-21.4%) to 24.7% (95% CI, 23.7%-25.6%) from 1997 to 2005. Age- and sex-adjusted self-reported measures of mental health, physical functioning, work or school limitations, and social limitations among adults with spine problems were worse in 2005 than in 1997. In this survey population, self-reported back and neck problems accounted for a large proportion of health care expenditures. These spine-related expenditures have increased substantially from 1997 to 2005, without evidence of corresponding improvement in self-assessed health status.

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Prescribing of opioid analgesics and related mortality before and after the introduction of long-acting oxycodone.

David Juurlink, M. Mamdani, Omar Qureshi … (2009)

Opioid-related mortality appears to be increasing in Canada. We examined the true extent of the problem and the impact of the introduction of long-acting oxycodone. We examined trends in the prescribing of opioid analgesics in the province of Ontario from 1991 to 2007. We reviewed all deaths related to opioid use between 1991 and 2004. We linked 3271 of these deaths to administrative data to examine the patients' use of health care services before death. Using time-series analysis, we determined whether the addition of long-acting oxycodone to the provincial drug formulary in January 2000 was associated with an increase in opioid-related mortality. From 1991 to 2007, annual prescriptions for opioids increased from 458 to 591 per 1000 individuals. Opioid-related deaths doubled, from 13.7 per million in 1991 to 27.2 per million in 2004. Prescriptions of oxycodone increased by 850% between 1991 and 2007. The addition of long-acting oxycodone to the drug formulary was associated with a 5-fold increase in oxycodone-related mortality (p<0.01) and a 41% increase in overall opioid-related mortality (p=0.02). The manner of death was deemed unintentional by the coroner in 54.2% and undetermined in 21.9% of cases. Use of health care services in the month before death was common: for example, of the 3066 patients for whom data on physician visits were available, 66.4% had visited a physician in the month before death; of the 1095 patients for whom individual-level prescribing data were available, 56.1% had filled a prescription for an opioid in the month before death. Opioid-related deaths in Ontario have increased markedly since 1991. A significant portion of the increase was associated with the addition of long-acting oxycodone to the provincial drug formulary. Most of the deaths were deemed unintentional. The frequency of visits to a physician and prescriptions for opioids in the month before death suggests a missed opportunity for prevention.

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The economic costs of chronic pain among a cohort of treatment-seeking adolescents in the United States.

Cornelius B. Groenewald, Bonnie Essner, Davene Wright … (2014)

The aim of this study was to assess the economic cost of chronic pain among adolescents receiving interdisciplinary pain treatment. Information was gathered from 149 adolescents (ages 10-17) presenting for evaluation and treatment at interdisciplinary pain clinics in the United States. Parents completed a validated measure of family economic attributes, the Client Service Receipt Inventory, to report on health service use and productivity losses due to their child's chronic pain retrospectively over 12 months. Health care costs were calculated by multiplying reported utilization estimates by unit visit costs from the 2010 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. The estimated mean and median costs per participant were $11,787 and $6,770, respectively. Costs were concentrated in a small group of participants; the top 5% of those patients incurring the highest costs accounted for 30% of total costs, whereas the lower 75% of participants accounted for only 34% of costs. Total costs to society for adolescents with moderate to severe chronic pain were extrapolated to $19.5 billion annually in the United States. The cost of adolescent chronic pain presents a substantial economic burden to families and society. Future research should focus on predictors of increased health services use and costs in adolescents with chronic pain.