New research presented at the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease’s annual meeting shows that pruritus (itching) in people with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) is associated with substantially higher healthcare costs and utilization, highlighting the need for more ways to improve this symptom and its impact on patients.
A team of researchers analyzed real-world healthcare data to measure how pruritus affects medical visits and costs among adults with PBC. Using Komodo Health’s Healthcare Map from 2017 to 2023, the researchers evaluated more than 52,000 people with PBC to compare inpatient, outpatient, emergency room and prescription utilization over a 12-month period.
Read more about PBC signs and symptoms.
The study included 10,077 adults with PBC-associated pruritus and 41,957 patients with PBC but no itching. Most participants were female (85.9%), older than 65 (54.3%) and enrolled in Medicare (57.2%). At the time of enrollment in the study, a sizeable portion of the participants had depression or a sleep disorder.
Authors found that having pruritus was associated with significantly higher healthcare resource use. Compared with the participants who didn’t experience itching, individuals with PBC and pruritus had 69% higher hospital utilization, 36% higher clinic/office utilization, 65% more emergency room visits and 44% higher prescription counts.
The cost analysis showed similarly large differences. Annually, healthcare costs averaged $39,949 for those with pruritus versus $25,695 for those without. This represents an incremental cost of $14,254 related to pruritus over one year.
An additional subgroup analysis focused on participants who received treatment for pruritus. In this group, the cost and utilization differences were even more pronounced. People living with PBC and pruritus were more than twice as likely to utilize hospital or emergency room care, and the incremental annual costs reached $27,669.
“In a real-world study of patients with PBC, pruritus was a significant contributor to healthcare resource utilization and costs,” the authors wrote. “These findings highlight the need for effective management and novel therapies to alleviate pruritus and reduce its associated clinical burden and costs.”
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