Medicoeconomic evaluation of hyaluronic acid for knee osteoarthritis in everyday practice: the MESSAGE study.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Medicoeconomic data on treatments for osteoarthritis are scant. We investigated the impact of hyaluronic acid therapy on the cost of management of knee osteoarthritis. Our primary objective was to compare medical costs (admissions, outpatient visits, investigations, and treatments) and non-medical costs (sick leaves and transportation) from the perspective of the national health insurance system during the 3 months before and the 6 months after three intraarticular injections of hyaluronic acid. Our secondary objective was to evaluate treatment benefits in terms of pain, function, and quality of life. METHODS: Observational, multicenter, longitudinal, before-after study of the medical and economic effects of hyaluronic acid therapy for symptomatic knee osteoarthritis. RESULTS: Of the 296 assessable patients (mean age, 69 years; 30% with obesity; 65% women), only 5% of patients were withdrawn prematurely from the study. Significant improvements in the Lequesne index were found 3 and 6 months after treatment; the improvement was greater than 50% in over half the patients. Pain and quality-of-life scores improved significantly. Total cost of the disease decreased from 334 euros for the 3 pretreatment months to 295 euros and 233 euros for posttreatment months 1-3 and 4-6, respectively. CONCLUSION: The costs of knee osteoarthritis decreased during the 6 months after Suplasyn therapy, indicating that the cost of the medication was more than offset by the decreased need for other treatments. Concomitantly, clinical benefits were obtained. Under the conditions of everyday practice, hyaluronic acid may provide medical benefits at an acceptable cost.