OBJECTIVES:

The objective is to describe the characteristics, therapeutic management and cost of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in France by using different data sources.

METHODS:

The French regional MS Lorrain registry (ReLSEP) contains MS patients’ characteristics, clinical data and therapeutic management, but no associated costs. Selected populations for this analysis were MS patients with first symptoms between 2000 and 2014.

The French Health insurance databases (SNIIRAM and EGB) contains drug/medical device consumptions, medical visits, hospitals stays and associated costs, but limited patients ‘characteristics, no clinical information, and no possibility to distinguish the form of the disease. Selected population for this analysis was prevalent MS patients in 2014. SNIIRAM is exhaustive (all French insured population), EGB is a 1/97^th representative sample of the SNIIRAM.

RESULTS:

From the 6090 MS patients registered in the ReLSEP database, 1926 MS patients met all the predefined selection criteria: 72% were female, mean age at first symptoms was 33±11 years. 1663 patients with Remitting form of MS (RRMS) at initial diagnosis (86%) and 263 (14%) with Primary Progressive (PPMS). 180 (11%) RRMS and 73 (28%) PPMS patients have never been treated during the observation period. Median follow-up was 9 years (Q1-Q3: 5-12). From the 940 MS patients extracted from the EGB database, 71% were female and mean age at extraction was 51±14 years with more than 50% of patients having first MS Long-Standing-Condition-Status > 10 years. In 2014, 70% of cost resulted in drug expenses/hospitalizations, while 56% of patients had no delivery of treatment and 94% no hospital stay. From the SNIIRAM database in 2014, around 90000 patients were diagnosed with MS. Cost of MS patients represented 0.8% of the annual spending in France.

CONCLUSIONS:

Multiple source of information is necessary to evaluate clinical, therapeutic and economic burden of Multiple Sclerosis in France, as complementary/confirmatory information are retrieved.