The economic burden of systemic lupus erythematosus in Mexico

Abstract

Aims

Our cost of illness study aimed to provide an estimate of the burden related to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in the Mexican context.

Methods

Our model was used to simulate the resource utilization and economic consequences over a period of 5 years for patients with SLE in Mexico. The model simulated four health states—three phenotypes of SLE, including mild, moderate, and severe states, and death. Clinical parameters were retrieved from the literature. Resource utilization in our model represents the most common practice in the Mexican healthcare system. These include disease management, transient events (e.g. infections, flares, and complications due to SLE-related organ damage), and indirect costs. Direct non-medical costs were not considered. One-way sensitivity analysis was performed.

Results

The number of targeted Mexican SLE patients was 57,754. The numbers of SLE patients diagnosed with mild, moderate, and severe phenotypes were 8,230, 44,291, and 5,233, respectively. Disease management costs, including the treatment of each phenotype and disease follow-up, were MXN 4 billion ($ 415 million); the costs of transient events (infections, flares, and consequences of SLE-related organ damage) were MXN 5 billion ($ 478 million). Productivity loss costs among adult employed Mexican patients with SLE were estimated at MXN 17 billion ($ 1.6 billion). The total SLE cost in Mexico over 5 years from the payer and societal perspectives is estimated at MXN 9 billion ($ 893 million) and 26 billion ($ 2.5 billion), respectively. Over 5 years, the costs per patient per year from the payer and societal perspectives were MXN 32,131($ 3,095) and MXN 91,661($ 8,830), respectively.

Conclusion

The findings pointed out the substantial economic burden associated with SLE, including the costs of disease progression and SLE transient events, such as flare-ups, infections, and organ damage, in addition to productivity loss due to work capacity impairment.

Keywords:

• SLE
• costs
• Mexico
• economic burden
• complications

JEL CLASSIFICATION CODES:

• C51
• C5
• C
• G28
• G2
• G
• H51
• H5
• H

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Correction

Correction Statement

This article was originally published with errors, which have now been corrected in the online version. Please see Correction (http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13696998.2024.2341210)

Transparency

Declaration of funding

This study was funded by AstraZeneca, they were not involved in the study design, analysis, interpretation of results or manuscript writing.

The funding received was used to pay for the submission and the open access publication fees.

Declaration of financial/other relationships

GE was employed by HTA Office, LLC. GE is a speaker for Janssen, Merck, Novartis, AstraZeneca, Roche, Eva pharma and Pfizer. The authors have no other financial relationships to disclose.

The experts did not receive any compensation for their participation in the Delphi panel.

Author contributions

GE, LO, MP, GR involved in conception and design, LO, MP, GR involved in analysis and interpretation of the data; GE draft the paper, GE, LO, MP, GR revised it critically for intellectual content; and the final approval of the version to be published; and that all authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge Mariam Elattar for the writing assistance utilized in the production of this manuscript and Neveen Kandil for her efforts in organizing the Delphi panel.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have received an honorarium from JME for their review work but have no other relevant financial relationships to disclose.

Supplement statement

This article is part of a supplement sponsored by AstraZeneca. All articles within this supplement have been rigorously peer reviewed by experts in the field, as per Journal of Medical Economic’s peer review policy. Any conflicts of interest are stated in the “Declaration of financial/other relationships” section.