Medication use and associated health care outcomes and costs for patients with psoriasis in the United States

Background: The impacts of use of pharmacotherapy for psoriasis on patient outcomes and medication costs need further examination using up-to-date large nationally representative data. Objective: To examine the impacts of patient demographics and medication use on patient's health status and associated medication costs. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted using the 2007 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) database. Information on patient demographics, health status, medication utilization, and medication costs were obtained representing 543 231 patients with psoriasis. Results: Weighted multiple linear regression analyses indicated that the use of biological/systemic agents yielded an increase in patient health status among all types of medications (beta = 7.9, p < 0.05). Use of biological/systemic agents also yielded an increase in annual medication spending (beta = 2.5, p < 0.01). Use of biological agents was elevated compared to previous studies. Conclusions: We observed an association between medication use for psoriasis treatment and its related patient health status and medication spending. The study findings could imply that encouraging the use of topical treatments may be an effective means to increase patient health status. The use of biologics needs further cost-effectiveness studies given the findings that biologics contribute to substantial increases in both drug expenditures and patient health status.