Therapy with omalizumab for patients with severe allergic asthma improves asthma control and reduces overall healthcare costs.
Affiliation
Departments of Respiratory, Medicine Beaumont Hospital, Dublin 9, Ireland., rcostello@rcsi.ieIssue Date
2012-02-01T09:59:02ZMeSH
AdultAged
Anti-Asthmatic Agents/*therapeutic use
Antibodies, Anti-Idiotypic/*therapeutic use
Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized/*therapeutic use
Asthma/drug therapy/economics/*prevention & control
Disease Progression
Female
Hospitalization/statistics & numerical data
Humans
Length of Stay
Male
Middle Aged
Respiratory Function Tests
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Ir J Med Sci. 2011 Sep;180(3):637-41. Epub 2011 May 11.Journal
Irish journal of medical scienceDOI
10.1007/s11845-011-0716-2PubMed ID
21557095Abstract
BACKGROUND: Patients with asthma who have persistent symptoms despite treatment with inhaled steroids and long-acting beta agonists are considered to have severe asthma. Omalizumab is a monoclonal antibody directed against IgE, which is used as an add-on treatment for patients who have severe persistent allergic asthma. AIMS: The aim of this study was to assess the clinical benefit and healthcare utilisation of patients who responded to omalizumab therapy and to establish an overall cost implication. METHODS: This was an observational retrospective cohort study designed to investigate the effect of omalizumab on exacerbations of asthma before and after 6 months of treatment in Irish patients. RESULTS: Centres who had treated patients with severe allergic asthma for the 6 months prior and post omalizumab treatment were audited with a standardised assessment tool. Sixty-three (32 male) patients were studied. In the 6 months prior to omalizumab 41 of 63 (66%) had been hospitalised, and this fell to 15 of 63 (24%), p < 0.0001 in the 6 months after treatment was started. Hospital admissions reduced from 2.4 +/- 0.41 to 0.8 +/- 0.37 and the mean number of bed days occupied was reduced from 16.6 +/- 2.94 to 5.3 +/- 2.57 days, p < 0.001. The number of oral corticosteroid doses used fell from 3.1 +/- 0.27 to 1.2 +/- 0.17, p < 0.001. The overall cost saving per omalizumab responder patients for 6 months was 834. CONCLUSIONS: Six months therapy with omalizumab reduced the number of bed days, the number of hospitalisations and the use of oral corticosteroids compared to the 6 months prior to commencement. Despite the cost of the additional therapy there were overall savings in health costs.Language
engISSN
1863-4362 (Electronic)0021-1265 (Linking)
ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1007/s11845-011-0716-2
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