Employees With Fibromyalgia: Medical Comorbidity, Healthcare Costs, and Work Loss

Objectives: To compare 2005 health care resources among matched samples of employees with fibromyalgia (FM), osteoarthritis (OA), and controls. Methods: Using a claims database of privately insured individuals, FM and OA samples were derived from those with two or more disease-specific claims in 199...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of occupational and environmental medicine 2008-01, Vol.50 (1), p.13-24
Main Authors: White, Leigh Ann, Birnbaum, Howard G., Kaltenboeck, Anna, Tang, Jackson, Mallett, David, Robinson, Rebecca L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Absenteeism
Arthritis
Biological and medical sciences
Case-Control Studies
Comorbidity
Comparative analysis
Cost of Illness
Diseases of the osteoarticular system
Drug Utilization - statistics & numerical data
Employer Health Costs
Employment
Female
Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia - economics
Fibromyalgia - epidemiology
Health Care Costs
Health care expenditures
Health Services - utilization
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Miscellaneous. Osteoarticular involvement in other diseases
Occupational health
ORIGINAL ARTICLES
Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis - economics
Osteoarthritis - epidemiology
Prevalence
United States
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Summary:Objectives: To compare 2005 health care resources among matched samples of employees with fibromyalgia (FM), osteoarthritis (OA), and controls. Methods: Using a claims database of privately insured individuals, FM and OA samples were derived from those with two or more disease-specific claims in 1999 to 2005 (≥1 in 2002 to 2005). Results: Total costs for employees with FM ($10,199) approached OA costs ($10,861, = 0.3758) and were significantly higher than controls ($5274, P < 0.0001). Cost components varied across disease-specific samples (direct medical: FM $7286 vs OA $8325, P < 0.0287; pharmacy: FM $1630 vs OA $1341; indirect: FM $2913 vs OA $2537, P < 0.0001). Employees with FM had more claims than OA for psychiatric diagnoses, chronic fatigue, and most pain conditions. Use of multiple prescription drug classes was common in both samples. Conclusions: FM imposes significant economic burden. Work loss contributes substantially to the impact.
ISSN:1076-2752
1536-5948
DOI:10.1097/JOM.0b013e31815cff4b