Rosacea: A High Price to Pay
The emotional suffering rosacea may cause those who have it can be severe, but a new study also showed that the cost of rosacea to taxpayers pay also be significant. A study by Ohio State University researchers tracked 2,587 patients with rosacea prescriptions to follow their refill adherence. The study showed some interesting results. According to the researchers:
“Patients’ healthcare costs increased with increasing age and charges paid
for prescriptions. Topical metronidazole seems to be an economically feasible
treatment option for Medicaid-enrolled patients with rosacea.”
The study also showed that non-white patients also were less likely to refill their prescriptions.
“Patients’ demographic characteristics, number of metronidazole refills, and different components of healthcare costs were examined. Results: Out of the total 2587 rosacea patients, the majority ( approximately 69%, n = 1771)had one or more prescriptions for topical metronidazole. Most of the patients in this study were white (73%). After controlling for other variables, increasing age was associated with a higher number of metronidazole refills and healthcare costs (both p<0.001). Compared with white patients, African American patients had a significantly lower number of metronidazole refills (p<0.001). Compared with white patients, African American patients and ‘other’ races were associated with an 8.6% and 10.3% decrease in total healthcare costs respectively (both p<0.001).”
Interestingly they found that an increase in the metronidazole refills was not associated with an increase in healthcare costs.
