Cost of medical care for older adults with epilepsy steadily grows

 

An analysis of health care expenditures faced by elderly patients with epilepsy over a 12-year period in the United States found rising annual costs over time that approached a mean of $20,000, according to researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston.

Alain Lekoubou, MD, and his colleagues estimated health care expenditures during 2003-2014 for patients aged 65 years and older with and without epilepsy by extrapolating data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Household Component to more than 37 million elderly individuals in the United States. The investigators published their findings in Epilepsia.

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They found that the mean annual unadjusted health care expenditures among elderly people with epilepsy were $18,712 pooled over the course of the 12-year period, compared with $10,168 among elderly individuals without epilepsy. The adjusted incremental cost for epilepsy in elderly people over the course of the same period was $4,595 per year higher than in those without epilepsy. The presence of comorbid diagnoses independently increased the incremental health care expenditures for epilepsy, which were $5,153 for stroke and $3,794 for dementia, and were even higher at $5,725 when those two conditions were excluded.

The unadjusted mean direct health care expenditures for elderly people with epilepsy rose from $15,850 in 2003-2006 to $22,038 in 2007-2010 but dropped in 2011-2014 to $17,985. Figures for the same period for elderly people without epilepsy went from $10,214 to $10,358 to $9,965.

“The high prevalence of epilepsy and high health care expenditures in elderly patients should give priority to epilepsy in the elderly in the medical and public health communities’ agenda,” the authors wrote.

[email protected]

SOURCE: Lekoubou A et al. Epilepsia. 2018 June 19. doi: 10.1111/epi.14455.

 

An analysis of health care expenditures faced by elderly patients with epilepsy over a 12-year period in the United States found rising annual costs over time that approached a mean of $20,000, according to researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston.

Alain Lekoubou, MD, and his colleagues estimated health care expenditures during 2003-2014 for patients aged 65 years and older with and without epilepsy by extrapolating data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Household Component to more than 37 million elderly individuals in the United States. The investigators published their findings in Epilepsia.

Thinkstock Photos

They found that the mean annual unadjusted health care expenditures among elderly people with epilepsy were $18,712 pooled over the course of the 12-year period, compared with $10,168 among elderly individuals without epilepsy. The adjusted incremental cost for epilepsy in elderly people over the course of the same period was $4,595 per year higher than in those without epilepsy. The presence of comorbid diagnoses independently increased the incremental health care expenditures for epilepsy, which were $5,153 for stroke and $3,794 for dementia, and were even higher at $5,725 when those two conditions were excluded.

The unadjusted mean direct health care expenditures for elderly people with epilepsy rose from $15,850 in 2003-2006 to $22,038 in 2007-2010 but dropped in 2011-2014 to $17,985. Figures for the same period for elderly people without epilepsy went from $10,214 to $10,358 to $9,965.

“The high prevalence of epilepsy and high health care expenditures in elderly patients should give priority to epilepsy in the elderly in the medical and public health communities’ agenda,” the authors wrote.

[email protected]

SOURCE: Lekoubou A et al. Epilepsia. 2018 June 19. doi: 10.1111/epi.14455.

 

An analysis of health care expenditures faced by elderly patients with epilepsy over a 12-year period in the United States found rising annual costs over time that approached a mean of $20,000, according to researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston.

Alain Lekoubou, MD, and his colleagues estimated health care expenditures during 2003-2014 for patients aged 65 years and older with and without epilepsy by extrapolating data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Household Component to more than 37 million elderly individuals in the United States. The investigators published their findings in Epilepsia.

Thinkstock Photos

They found that the mean annual unadjusted health care expenditures among elderly people with epilepsy were $18,712 pooled over the course of the 12-year period, compared with $10,168 among elderly individuals without epilepsy. The adjusted incremental cost for epilepsy in elderly people over the course of the same period was $4,595 per year higher than in those without epilepsy. The presence of comorbid diagnoses independently increased the incremental health care expenditures for epilepsy, which were $5,153 for stroke and $3,794 for dementia, and were even higher at $5,725 when those two conditions were excluded.

The unadjusted mean direct health care expenditures for elderly people with epilepsy rose from $15,850 in 2003-2006 to $22,038 in 2007-2010 but dropped in 2011-2014 to $17,985. Figures for the same period for elderly people without epilepsy went from $10,214 to $10,358 to $9,965.

“The high prevalence of epilepsy and high health care expenditures in elderly patients should give priority to epilepsy in the elderly in the medical and public health communities’ agenda,” the authors wrote.

[email protected]

SOURCE: Lekoubou A et al. Epilepsia. 2018 June 19. doi: 10.1111/epi.14455.