Presentation (CTI)

OBJECTIVES:
This study assessed work productivity losses among working patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in a U.S. commercially insured population.
METHODS: Data from January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2022, were sourced from the IBM® MarketScan® Commercial & Medicare Claims and Health Productivity and Management database. SLE patients were identified by at least two outpatient claims 30 days apart or one inpatient claim with the relevant ICD-9/10 codes. Non-SLE working patients include non-healthy patients with non-SLE diseases. Patients were aged ≥18 years. Annualized work productivity losses, including absenteeism and short-term or long-term disability (STD/LTD), were adjusted to 2022 dollars. Linear regressions with propensity score weighting were used to assess productivity losses, accounting for demographic and clinical factors including age, sex, region, Charles Comorbidity Score and index year.
RESULTS: The study identified 13,853 SLE working patients and 8,537,311 non-SLE working patients, with balanced baseline characteristics including age, gender, region, and drug coverage. The standardized mean differences for all patient characteristics between the two groups were < 0.1 after propensity score weighting. Among the SLE group, 217 (1.6%) had absenteeism records and 757 (5.5%) had STD records, respectively. In the non-SLE group, 193,417 (2.3%) had absenteeism records and 285,181 (3.3%) had STD records, respectively. Compared to non-SLE patients, SLE patients experienced 35.89 additional hours of absenteeism (p = 0.012) and 9.27 more STD days (p < 0.001) per year, corresponding to $1,555.99 and $1,958.15 in work productivity losses per year, respectively. No significant differences were observed for long-term disability (LTD).
CONCLUSIONS: Working patients with SLE face significantly greater productivity losses in absenteeism hours and STD days compared to non-SLE working patients, potentially posing large costs in overall work productivity.