OBJECTIVES: To investigate the real-world economic and humanistic burden of Chinese patients with non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis (nr-axSpA) in China.

METHODS: Adult nr-axSpA patients were recruited from three tertiary hospitals in Anhui, Chongqing, and Beijing in China in 2022. Online questionnaires were used to collect information including demographics, diagnosis, healthcare resource utilization (HRU) and costs, and quality of life. Economic and humanistic burden were described for total cohort and also in subgroups according to the duration since diagnoses (<1year vs. ≥1 year). Quality of life was assessed using the Short-Form Six-Dimension (SF-6Dv2), and the economic burden including HRU, direct and indirect costs was calculated by per person per month (or per year, only for patients diagnosed ≥1 year).

RESULTS: 61 patients (mean age 29.30±7.61 years, 55.7% female) were included. The average monthly direct and indirect cost was ¥4,108±5,414 for the total cohort, and 44.3% of patients were unemployed or experienced work absence due to nr-axSpA. Patients diagnosed for ≥1 year (N=40) had 7.80±3.94 annual outpatient visits and annual total cost of ¥36,550±56,198. Direct medical costs were the most important component of the total costs (70.8%), followed by indirect costs (23.1%). Furthermore, medication costs accounted for the largest proportion of direct medical costs at 50.3%.The average health utility value of patients was as low as 0.696±0.174.Role limitation, pain, and vitality were the three most severely impaired dimensions of quality of life in nr-axSpA patients, with 55.7%, 59.1%, and 63.9% of patients experiencing moderate to severe impairment (level 3 or above), respectively.