Healthcare utilization and costs among patients with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis in the USA-a retrospective study of claims data from 2009 to 2020

Objectives To compare healthcare resource utilization and costs among patients with psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis (PsA), and a control group of patients without psoriasis and PsA in the USA. Methods The IBM (R) MarketScan (R) Commercial Database was used to identify three adult patient groups from 1/1/2009 through 4/30/2020: (1) Psoriasis: >= 2 diagnoses >= 30 days apart for psoriasis (no PsA diagnoses); (2) PsA: >= 2 diagnoses for PsA; (3) Control: no psoriasis or PsA diagnoses in their entire claims records. Patients with comorbid rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, Crohn's disease, or ulcerative colitis were excluded from the analyses. Controls were matched 1:1 to psoriasis and PsA patients based on age, gender, index year, and number of non-rheumatological comorbidities. Healthcare resource utilization and costs (in 2019 USD) were evaluated descriptively and through mixed models for five years of follow-up. Results A total of 142,531 psoriasis and 21,428 PsA patients were matched to the control group (N = 163,959). Annual all-cause healthcare costs per patient were $7,470, $11,062, and $29,742 for the control, psoriasis, and PsA groups, respectively. All-cause healthcare costs increased over time and were significantly greater among PsA vs. psoriasis (p < 0.0001) and the control groups (p < 0.0001). Across all categories of healthcare resources, utilization was greatest among patients with PsA and lowest in the control group. Conclusion Annual healthcare costs and resource utilization were significantly higher with PsA compared with psoriasis and the control group, confirming the substantial economic burden of PsA. The cost disparity between these patient groups highlights a continued unmet medical need.