Direct Costs of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases in a Finnish Tertiary-level Clinic

Abstract

Background Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), are chronic diseases associated with a high and continuous economic burden. The introduction of biological agents has changed the distribution of costs over the past two decades and there are no recent studies on costs. The aim of this study was to estimate the direct healthcare costs of these diseases in a tertiary-level clinic. Methods

Data was collected of IBD patients visiting Turku University Hospital during a one-year period. Patients were included if they lived in the hospital district area and were over 18 years old. This comprised an IBD group of 2,208 patients, including 794 cases of Crohn’s disease and 1,414 cases of ulcerative colitis. A sex- and age-matched control group was collected for comparison. Direct costs were collected during a one-year study period from the hospital records.

Results

IBD-generated direct costs in a tertiary-level clinic were estimated to total 3,981€ per patient annually. IBD patients who were given infliximab generated 9,157€ per patient more direct healthcare costs annually than IBD patients with no infliximab medication. On average, CD patients generated 1,111€ more direct healthcare costs annually than UC patients.

Conclusion

The treatment costs of IBD were significant. In addition, biological agents make up a large proportion of the costs.