Background/Purpose: As the US population ages, concerns continue to grow about the cost of medical treatment for osteoarthritis (OA). We estimated all-cause medical care expenditures and OA-attributable expenditures among US adults with OA age ≥ 18 years.  

Methods: We identified adults with OA in the 2008-2011 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). Adults were defined as having OA if (1) ICD-9-CM 715 was present, or (2) ICD-9-CM 716 or 719 was present along with self-reported doctor-diagnosed arthritis that excluded rheumatoid arthritis. We estimated annual national total (aggregate) and mean per-person all-cause and OA-attributable expenditures overall and for four expenditure categories: ambulatory care (office-based and hospital outpatient); inpatient care; prescriptions; and other (emergency room visits, home health care, vision aids, dental visits, and medical devices). OA-attributable expenditures were calculated using multi-stage regression models that adjusted for demographics (age, sex, race, Hispanic ethnicity, and education), health insurance coverage (any private, public only, or none), and 9 costly comorbid conditions. The increment was our estimate of expenditures that would be expected if those with OA did not have the condition by applying the parameter estimates from the models of those without OA to the data from those with OA.  Estimates are in 2011 US dollars.

Results: National total all-cause medical care expenditures among the 30.8 million adults reporting OA were $328.2 billion; mean per-person expenditures among US adults with OA were $10,654, compared to $4,884 for all adults.  Across expenditure categories, all-cause mean per-person expenditures were: ambulatory care ($3,354), inpatient ($3,320), prescriptions ($2,546), and other ($1,434).  National OA-attributable expenditures totaled $62.1 billion (mean per person=$2,017) and accounted for 6% ($62.1 billion/$1,122.0 billion) of all medical expenditures for US adults.  Mean per-person OA-attributable expenditures followed the same order as all-cause expenditures: ambulatory care ($754), inpatient ($544), prescriptions ($348), and other ($185).

Conclusion: Mean per-person all-cause medical expenditures were more than double for adults with OA compared to the entire adult population. Total annual national medical expenditures attributable to OA were $62.1 billion, accounting for 6% of medical expenditures for US adults.  The increasing prevalence of obesity and continued aging of the population suggest that medical expenditures for treating OA will increase in the future. Underused interventions such as weight management, physical activity, and self-management education may mitigate its adverse effects on symptoms and function.

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ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/annual-medical-care-expenditures-among-us-adults-with-osteoarthritis-2008-2011/