ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Direct Economic Burden of Chronic Hepatitis C Virus in a United States Managed Care Population Keith L. Davis, MA,* Debanjali Mitra, MA,* Jasmina Medjedovic, MSc,w Cynthia Beam, PhD,z and Vinod Rustgi, MDy

Goals and Background: To estimate all-cause and disease-related resource utilization and costs among managed care enrollees with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV). Study: A large United States claims database was analyzed (1/1/ 2002 to 12/31/2006). Inclusion criteria were: diagnosis of chronic HCV; no hepatitis B diagnoses; Z6 and Z12 months of continuous plan enrollment prediagnosis and postdiagnosis, respectively. Use and costs of medical services and prescription drugs over a 12-month period postdiagnosis were evaluated. Outcomes were assessed in controls without HCV matched (1:1) on age, sex, and plan enrollment. All cost estimates were generated using multivariate generalized linear models to adjust for additional covariates and skewness common in health care cost data. Results: Of the 20,662 patients who met all inclusion criteria, mean age was 49 years; 61% were male. Adjusted all-cause costs were $20,961 per HCV patient, compared with $5451 per control (P