Contemporary Incremental Healthcare Costs for Allergic Rhinitis in the United States.

Abstract

Describe contemporary changes in healthcare expenditure and utilization associated with allergic rhinitis (AR) over the past decade. Cross-sectional analysis. Patients reporting a diagnosis of AR were extracted from the 2018 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey and linked to the consolidated expenditures file. AR patients were then compared to non-AR patients to demonstrate differences in healthcare utilization for office visits, emergency facility visits, and prescriptions. In addition, differences in total healthcare costs, office-based costs, and prescription costs were calculated, using demographic- and comorbidity-adjusted multivariate models. Results were compared to those obtained in 2007. In 2018, an estimated 1.94 ± 0.2 million adult patients reported AR (0.8% of the US population receiving medical care), a 90% decrease from the 17.8 ± 0.7 million patients seen in a formal healthcare setting for AR in 2007 (7.9%). AR patients still formally seen in 2018 had an average of 4.4 ± 1.3 more office visits (P= .001) and 9.7 ± 2.2 more prescription fills (P< .001) than non-AR patients. In contrast to the 2007 findings, there was no difference in total health care expenditure per person with AR per year. When comparing total healthcare expenditure between 2018 and 2007, there was a net decrease of $1,176 per person with AR per year (P< .01). Patients reporting AR in a formal healthcare encounter fell significantly over the past decade, and per-person expenditure associated with an AR diagnosis also decreased significantly. The transition of nasal corticosteroids to over-the-counter was potentially a key driver behind these changes. 3 Laryngoscope, 132:1510-1514, 2022.