Costs of Rheumatoid Arthritis: New Estimates from the Human Capital Method and Comparison to the Willingness-to-Pay Method

Bruno Fautrel, Ann E. Clarke, Francis Guillemin, Viviane Adam, Yvan St-Pierre, Tina Panaritis, Paul R. Fortin, Henri A. Menard, Cam Donaldson and John R. Penrod
Additional contact information
Bruno Fautrel: Department of Rheumatology, University of Paris VI-Pierre et Marie Curie, Hospital Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France, Division of Clinical Epidemiology, McGill University Health Center, Montreal, QC, Canada, EA 3444, School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Nancy, France, bruno.fautrel@psl.ap-hop-paris.fr
Ann E. Clarke: Division of Clinical Epidemiology, McGill University Health Center, Montreal, QC, Canada
Francis Guillemin: EA 3444, School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Nancy, France
Viviane Adam: Division of Clinical Epidemiology, McGill University Health Center, Montreal, QC, Canada
Yvan St-Pierre: Division of Clinical Epidemiology, McGill University Health Center, Montreal, QC, Canada
Tina Panaritis: Division of Clinical Epidemiology, McGill University Health Center, Montreal, QC, Canada
Paul R. Fortin: Department of Rheumatology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
Henri A. Menard: Department of Rheumatology, McGill University Health Center, Montreal, QC, Canada
Cam Donaldson: Institute of Health and Society, University of Newcastle, UK
John R. Penrod: Division of Clinical Epidemiology, McGill University Health Center, Montreal, QC, Canada

Medical Decision Making, 2007, vol. 27, issue 2, 138-150

Abstract: Background . Individuals' valuation of changes in health states in monetary terms have been measured by examining changes in the direct and indirect costs of disease and by the willingness-to-pay (WTP) methodology. Methods . In 2002, a 2-part study was conducted in Quebec. In one part of the study, 121 rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients from the McGill University Health Centre were mailed the Stanford Cost Assessment Questionnaire, which enabled the elicitation of direct costs and indirect costs, according to the friction cost and the human capital methods. The other part was a phone survey conducted in a representative sample of the general population and in the same sample of patients, aiming to elicit the societal WTP for a complete cure of RA in the context of 2 different scenarios: a public coverage or private insurance. These estimates were then compared. Results . Estimates of the cost of illness of RA ranged from 11,717 to 28,498 Canadian Dollars (CAD) depending on the method. These estimates are higher than those previously published in Canada from the 1990s, which is partly due to the recent and costly biological therapies and to a change in the measurement of productivity losses. These estimates are somewhat lower than the societal WTP elicited from the WTP survey, that is, 26,717 and 36,817 CAD per RA case, depending on the public or private health insurance context in which the cure would be available. Conclusion . Given that neither method is ideal, data from both methods would provide an important sensitivity analysis when monetary estimates of health state changes are required.

Keywords: willingness to pay; cost of illness; rheumatoid arthritis; human capital; friction cost (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0272989X06297389 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:medema:v:27:y:2007:i:2:p:138-150

DOI: 10.1177/0272989X06297389

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Medical Decision Making
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().