| Abstract: | Objectives: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disorder that can cause multi-organ damage, leading to reduced life expectancy, lower quality of life, and high medical expenditures. Therefore, long-term and comprehensive disease management and monitoring are important. This study aimed to examine treatment pattern, quality of SLE care, and utilization and costs of medical care of SLE patients. Methods: The National Health Insurance Research Database was adopted to identify patients diagnosed with SLE before 2010 through their eligibility for catastrophic illness of SLE, and examine their use and costs of health services in 2010. Logistic regression models and generalized linear models were adopted for analyses. Results: The majority of 744 patients with SLE was female (85%), older than 40 years old (54%), and having been diagnosed with SLE for more than five years (68%). Sixty-one percent of them received corticosteroids, 59% received antimalarials, and 36% received immunosupressants. Annual tests for complete blood count, creatinine, and serum levels of complement component C3/C4 and anti-dsDNA antibodies were received by 85%, 78%, and 76% of the subjects, respectively. Forty-four percent of them received annual evaluation of cardiovascular risk, and 3% of them received influenza vaccination. Average number of outpatient visit was 33.47, and SLL-related visit was 12.82. Twenty-two percent of them were admitted to hospital during the year, and the average number of hospital admission was 0.48. The average annual medical cost was NTD105,059, and the average SLE-related medical cost was NTD29,770. Shorter time since SLE diagnosis was associated with more intense treatment, better adherence to recommendations for annual tests, and higher SLE-related costs. Conclusions: This study identified treatment pattern, quality of SLE care, and use and costs of patients with SLE. Disease management and monitoring need to be improved. |
