The economic burden of advanced Parkinson’s disease: an analysis of a UK patient dataset

Abstract

Background:

To evaluate the cost burden of patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease (PD) according to the waking hours per day spent in OFF state. An analysis of resource use comprising medical services, professional care and informal care data from an observational, cross-sectional study was conducted.

Methods:

A total of 60 physicians comprising 40 neurologists and 20 geriatricians across the UK participating in the Adelphi PD Disease Specific Programme took part. There were 302 PD patients at H&Y stages 3–5. Patients were characterised according to the percentage of time per day spent in OFF state (<25%, 26–50%, 51–75%, >75%).

Results:

Average 12-monthly total costs increased according to the time spent in OFF state from £25,630 in patients spending less than 25% of their waking hours in OFF to £62,147 for patients spending more than 75% of their time in OFF. Overall, 7% of costs were attributed to direct medical care, while 93% were split between direct non-medical professional care (50%) and indirect informal care (43%).

Limitations:

Low patient numbers in the more advanced disease stages of PD led to very little or no data to directly inform some of the severe health states of the analysis. Data gaps were filled in with data derived from a regression analysis which may affect the robustness of the analysis.

Conclusion:

This study illustrates the increasing costs of advancing PD, in particular related to the time spent in OFF state, and identifies that the foremost cost burden is associated with the care needs of the patient rather than medical services.

Key words::

• Cost of illness
• Economic burden
• OFF time
• Parkinson’s disease

Transparency

Declaration of funding

This study was funded by Abbott Healthcare Products Ltd., manufacturer of Duodopa. IMS Health conducted the study by order and on account of Abbott Healthcare Products Ltd.

Declaration of financial/other relationships

A.B. is employed by Abbott Products Operations AG, Switzerland. M.S. is employed by Abbott Healthcare Products Ltd, UK.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the contribution of Adelphi Group for providing the data and to James Jackson (project manager, Adelphi Group) for his expertise with the database.

This paper was presented as a poster at the World Parkinson’s Congress in Glasgow in September 2010.