The costs of care from a US claims database in patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder.

BACKGROUND: Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) is a rare autoimmune disease of the central nervous system that often leads to severe disability. Patients with highly active NMOSD have approximately a 10-times higher hospital inpatient admission rate compared with patients without NMOSD. Accurate assessments of the impact of NMOSD treatments on the burdens of illness require quantitative metrics of these burdens, including costs of care. METHODS: This study evaluated claims data from the IBM MarketScan Commercial and Medicare Supplemental Databases between 2014 and 2018. Patients were included based on inpatient or outpatient claims meeting criteria defined for NMOSD. Non-NMOSD controls were matched 5:1 to patients with NMOSD. Total costs of healthcare services in consumer price index-adjusted 2019 US dollars during the 1-year postindex follow-up period were calculated for patients and controls. RESULTS: Patients with NMOSD required more healthcare services and incurred significantly greater costs for inpatient hospitalizations (annual mean [SD] cost: $29,054 [$144,872] vs controls $1521 [$10,759]), outpatient services ($24,881 [$35,463] vs $4761 [$26,447]), and emergency department (ED) visits ($2400 [$7771] vs $408 [$2579]). Almost 12% of patients with NMOSD were further burdened with plasma exchange or intravenous immunoglobulin G treatments, costing an annual median (interquartile range) of $1684 ($566-$3817) and $24,353 ($5425-$42,975), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with controls, patients with NMOSD had significantly higher costs associated with hospitalizations, ED visits, and prescriptions. These results highlight the considerable economic burden of NMOSD, which may be favorably impacted by disease-modifying therapies that are regulatory-approved to be safe and effective.

Burden and cost of comorbidities in patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder.

BACKGROUND: Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) is associated with various comorbidities, including non-autoimmune and autoimmune conditions. The burden and cost of illness for NMOSD are unclear, particularly in the context of comorbidities. METHODS: Claims data from IBM MarketScan Commercial and Medicare Supplemental Databases between 2014 and 2018 were analyzed. Patients with NMOSD were specified as having inpatient or outpatient claims for NMOSD diagnosis or specific NMOSD symptoms claims and no subsequent claims for multiple sclerosis (MS) or use of MS disease-modifying therapy (DMT). Continuous enrollment ≥ 6 months before and ≥ 1 year after the first claim (index date) was required for study inclusion. Total costs stratified by comorbidities within 12 months post-index date were calculated per patient and compared 1:5 with matched non-NMOSD controls. RESULTS: A total of 162 patients with NMOSD and 810 non-NMOSD controls were evaluated. A significantly higher proportion of NMOSD patients had comorbidities than non-NMOSD controls (66.7% vs 41.5%; P < 0.001). Concomitant autoimmune disease occurred in 19.1% vs 4.9% (P < 0.001) of patients with NMOSD vs non-NMOSD controls. NMOSD patients incurred significantly higher total median (interquartile range) healthcare costs per patient ($68,386.48 [$23,373.54-$160,862.70]) than matched non-NMOSD controls with autoimmune disease ($17,215.13 [$6715.48-$31,441.93]; P < 0.001) or patients with NMOSD without autoimmune comorbidity ($23,905.42 [$8632.82-$67,251.54]; P = 0.022). Similarly, patients with NMOSD and non-autoimmune comorbidities incurred higher median healthcare costs than matched controls. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with NMOSD experience significant disease burden and cost that are amplified by comorbidities. Effective therapies are needed, particularly for patients with concomitant autoimmune disease.

Identification and temporal trends of patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder in a US insurance claims database.

BACKGROUND: This US claims-based study aimed to identify and characterize temporal trends in diagnostic pathways for patients likely to have neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD). METHODS: Patients were identified from IBM MarketScan Commercial Databases if, within 1 year, they had two NMOSD claims separated by ≥ 60 days; two transverse myelitis (TM) or optic neuritis (ON) claims separated by ≥ 60 days, and one additional symptom (TM, ON, or area postrema syndrome); or one NMOSD claim and one additional symptom. The first NMOSD or TM/ON claim was the index date, and the second claim was the diagnosis date. Similar methodology was used in temporal trend and incidence and prevalence analyses. RESULTS: Among 1,901 patients with NMOSD, 34.2% were identified by two NMO claims, 53.2% by ON or TM +1 symptom, and 12.6% by one NMOSD claim +1 symptom. Anti-aquaporin-4 immunoglobin G (AQP4-IgG) autoantibody tests and magnetic resonance imaging was used for 23.0% and 71.9% of cases, respectively. Across cohorts, 21.4-49.1% had multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis claims prior to index date, and 37.3-60.6% had an MS diagnosis, 14.9-31.0% had MS disease-modifying therapy (DMT) claims and 6.3-44.8% had immunosuppressive therapy (IST) claims <1 year after diagnosis. Over time, there were slight changes in MS diagnosis claims, AQP4-IgG autoantibody testing, and DMT and IST use before and after NMOSD diagnosis. LIMITATIONS: This study is limited by the information available in US claims databases, which included the potential for misclassification of NMOSD based solely on claims codes and lack of reimbursement for AQP4-IgG testing by insurance companies. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients likely to have NMOSD, low AQP4-IgG testing rates, IST use, frequent MS diagnosis claims, and DMT use highlight the need for a diagnostic algorithm and timely treatment of NMOSD.