Health Care Visits and Out-of-Pocket Costs in People With Chronic Hand Eczema

Speaker(s)

Molin S1, Crépy MN2, Fargnoli MC3, Apfelbacher C4, Brignoli L5, Morillo A6, Norlin J7, Apol E8, Giménez-Arnau AM9, Bewley A10
1Division of Dermatology, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada, 2University Hospital of Centre of Paris, Hotel-Dieu Hospital, Paris, France, 3University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy, 4Institute of Social Medicine and Health Systems Research, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany, 5Oracle Life Sciences, Paris, 75, France, 6Oracle Life Sciences, Paris, France, 7LEO Pharma A/S, Ballerup, Denmark, 8LEO Pharma A/S, Ballerup, 84, Denmark, 9Hospital del Mar, Barcelona, Spain, 10Barts Health NHS Trust and Queen Mary University of London Medical School, London, UK

Presentation Documents

OBJECTIVES: To analyze health care visits and out-of-pocket (OOP) costs in people with Chronic Hand Eczema (CHE).

METHODS: CHECK (Chronic Hand Eczema epidemiology, Care, and Knowledge of real-life burden) is a population-based study in which participants were recruited in Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the UK aged 18-69 via online panels. Questions about health care visits and OOP costs (converted to EUR 2024) over 12 months were included in a follow-up survey. A previously published photographic guide was used to assess severity in the past week.

RESULTS: In total 1024 participants completed the questionnaire. Seventy-one percent were females (n=723). Mean (SD) age was 45.9 (11.8). Over half, 59.2%, reported mild, and 40.8% reported moderate-to-severe CHE symptoms.

In the past 12 months, 37.3% had met with a dermatologist and 44.8% with a General Practitioner, whereas 28.1% had not seen any physician in the past year. In mild patients, 35.5% had no visits whereas 17.7% among moderate to severe patients had no physician visits.

The overall mean (SD) number of physician visits over 12 months was 2.3 (3.1); 1.6 (2.2) amongst those with mild symptoms and 3.1 (3.8) amongst those with moderate to severe symptoms.

OOP cost for emollients or other topical treatments was mean (SD) EUR 35.9 (71.5) per month and mean (SD) cost for other items relevant for managing the CHE (e.g., gloves, wound care, gauze bandages, special soaps, and cleansers) was 25.8 (65.6) per month.

CONCLUSIONS: People living with CHE can take on a considerable financial burden in terms of OOP costs to self-manage their disease. Moreover, one in six with moderate to severe CHE did not meet with a physician in the past year, which could suggest a lack of confidence in health care among these patients.

Code

EE253

Topic

Economic Evaluation

Disease

Drugs, No Additional Disease & Conditions/Specialized Treatment Areas