Untitled

Abstract

Objective. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has direct costs, expressed as hospitalization, tests, drug therapy, physical therapy, assistance, transportation and equipment, and indirect costs caused by work loss. The aim of our study was to evaluate the direct costs of hospitalization in a Romanian clinical setting. Methods. Relationships between the clinical, laboratory, functional parameters and the hospitalization costs were assessed in 50 female RA patients admitted to the Ist Rheumatology Clinic between May and July 2019. The duration of hospitalization ranged between 4 and 11 days. Results. Our study showed that pain was associated with higher hospitalization costs, as the number of painful joints (r = +0.396, p = 0.004) and the Visual Analogue Scale for Pain (r = +0.318, p = 0.025) were significantly correlated with the total costs of hospitalization. A higher DAS28 required higher medication costs (r = +0.434, p = 0.002) and the laboratory exams were more expensive in CRP tests (r = +0.282, p = 0.047). Conclusions. Our study showed that in Romania there are high hospitalization costs for RA. These costs have exceeded per week the 2019 average monthly net salary of ~3,000 RON.