Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) equals rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in terms of economic costs according to a pair of European studies published in the August 2003 issue of the “Annals of Rheumatic Disease.”

Both studies indicate that AS can be as expensive to treat as RA, yet one hinted that the overall lifetime cost of AS may be even higher because it tends to have an earlier age of onset. The first study tallied the direct medical costs associated with AS. The second examined the costs to the patient, including out-of-pocket expenses, income loss, time consumption and quality-of-life changes due to AS.

The average annual societal direct costs for each AS patient were $2,954 – of which 82 percent were direct healthcare costs. Longer disease duration, lower education, diminished physical function and higher disease activity were main cost indicators. Average annual direct costs were $ 2,374 in the Netherlands, $1,568 in France and $1,053 in Belgium. The average annual healthcare and non-healthcare expenditure was $482 per AS patient, and 43 percent of patients experienced an AS-related income loss, with an average annual income loss of $1,534 per patient. AS patients lose up to 75 minutes a day because of their disease, which can be difficult to translate into actual income loss.

Mean annual direct costs of RA ranged from $1,819 to $11,001 according to one study. That figure was determined according to a systemic review of 16 cost-of-illness RA studies. Yet, may pale in cost compared to AS, which develops earlier in life than most cases of RA.

The study consisted of 135 Dutch, 54 French and 27 Belgian patients with AS, who were drawn from the rheumatology departments of four hospitals in three countries. Of the initial 216 patients in the study, 209 provided data. Both studies lasted two years.