Implications of comorbidity for primary care costs in the UK: a retrospective observational study. Brilleman, S. L., Purdy, S., Salisbury, C., Windmeijer, F., Gravelle, H., & Hollinghurst, S. The British Journal of General Practice: The Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 63(609):e274--282, April, 2013.
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BACKGROUND: Comorbidity is increasingly common in primary care. The cost implications for patient care and budgetary management are unclear. AIM: To investigate whether caring for patients with specific disease combinations increases or decreases primary care costs compared with treating separate patients with one condition each. DESIGN: Retrospective observational study using data on 86 100 patients in the General Practice Research Database. METHOD: Annual primary care cost was estimated for each patient including consultations, medication, and investigations. Patients with comorbidity were defined as those with a current diagnosis of more than one chronic condition in the Quality and Outcomes Framework. Multiple regression modelling was used to identify, for three age groups, disease combinations that increase (cost-increasing) or decrease (cost-limiting) cost compared with treating each condition separately. RESULTS: Twenty per cent of patients had at least two chronic conditions. All conditions were found to be both cost-increasing and cost-limiting when co-occurring with other conditions except dementia, which is only cost-limiting. Depression is the most important cost-increasing condition when co-occurring with a range of conditions. Hypertension is cost-limiting, particularly when co-occurring with other cardiovascular conditions. CONCLUSION: Three categories of comorbidity emerge, those that are: cost-increasing, mainly due to a combination of depression with physical comorbidity; cost-limiting because treatment for the conditions overlap; and cost-limiting for no apparent reason but possibly because of inadequate care. These results can contribute to efficient and effective management of chronic conditions in primary care.
@article{brilleman_implications_2013,
	title = {Implications of comorbidity for primary care costs in the {UK}: a retrospective observational study},
	volume = {63},
	issn = {1478-5242},
	shorttitle = {Implications of comorbidity for primary care costs in the {UK}},
	doi = {10.3399/bjgp13X665242},
	abstract = {BACKGROUND: Comorbidity is increasingly common in primary care. The cost implications for patient care and budgetary management are unclear.
AIM: To investigate whether caring for patients with specific disease combinations increases or decreases primary care costs compared with treating separate patients with one condition each.
DESIGN: Retrospective observational study using data on 86 100 patients in the General Practice Research Database.
METHOD: Annual primary care cost was estimated for each patient including consultations, medication, and investigations. Patients with comorbidity were defined as those with a current diagnosis of more than one chronic condition in the Quality and Outcomes Framework. Multiple regression modelling was used to identify, for three age groups, disease combinations that increase (cost-increasing) or decrease (cost-limiting) cost compared with treating each condition separately.
RESULTS: Twenty per cent of patients had at least two chronic conditions. All conditions were found to be both cost-increasing and cost-limiting when co-occurring with other conditions except dementia, which is only cost-limiting. Depression is the most important cost-increasing condition when co-occurring with a range of conditions. Hypertension is cost-limiting, particularly when co-occurring with other cardiovascular conditions.
CONCLUSION: Three categories of comorbidity emerge, those that are: cost-increasing, mainly due to a combination of depression with physical comorbidity; cost-limiting because treatment for the conditions overlap; and cost-limiting for no apparent reason but possibly because of inadequate care. These results can contribute to efficient and effective management of chronic conditions in primary care.},
	language = {eng},
	number = {609},
	journal = {The British Journal of General Practice: The Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners},
	author = {Brilleman, Samuel L. and Purdy, Sarah and Salisbury, Chris and Windmeijer, Frank and Gravelle, Hugh and Hollinghurst, Sandra},
	month = apr,
	year = {2013},
	pmid = {23540484},
	pmcid = {PMC3609475},
	keywords = {Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Cardiovascular Diseases, Comorbidity, Cost of Illness, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Female, Great Britain, Health Expenditures, Humans, Hypertension, Male, Middle Aged, Prevalence, Primary Health Care, Retrospective Studies, depression},
	pages = {e274--282}
}

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