The Economic Impact of Multiple Sclerosis: A Preliminary Look at the North American Registry for Care and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (NARCRMS)
Yang Mao-Draayer1, Kottil Rammohan2, David Li3, June Halper4, Sara McCurdy Murphy5, Audrey Brown6, Jesse Wilkerson6, Lisa Patton5, Briana Bratcher5
1University of Michigan, Department of Neurology, 2University of Miami, 3University of British Columbia, 4CMSC, 5NARCRMS Operations Center, 6NARCRMS Data Management Core, DLH Corp
Objective:
To evaluate the economic impact of MS, specifically the impact on employment and utilization of healthcare resources.
Background:
NARCRMS is a longitudinal registry that collects information on MS from 26 sites across the United States and Canada. Clinical and imaging data and the impact of MS on daily life is examined longitudinally. The economic impact of MS at enrollment is reported here.
Design/Methods:
The Health-Related Productivity and Health Resource Utilization (HEOR) questionnaires are completed at enrollment, annual and exacerbation visits by all subjects and form the basis of this communication.
Results:
1047 subjects were enrolled and 1042 completed the HEOR case report forms (CRFs). In this mildly affected group, the median EDSS was 1.5 (IQR 1.0, 2.5) and 69% (723) were employed full/part time, with a third of subjects unemployed. During the week prior to reporting, 79 (11%) reported that MS kept them from work, 226 (31%) reported that MS impacted work, 280 (27%) reported that MS kept them from completing household chores and 295 (28%) reported that MS impacted household chores. In a multivariate analysis, fatigue was the leading symptom reported to impact work and household chores (p=0.001). Cognitive complaints and bladder disturbances were also reported but neither achieved statistical significance. Only 77 (7%) relapses were reported since enrollment. In the 3 months prior to enrollment, 34 (3%) patients had inpatient hospital stays, 55 (5%) visited the emergency room, 200 (19%) visited a general practitioner and 784 (75%) visited a neurologist.
Conclusions:
This cohort represents MS with mild impairments, MS seems to impact patients from reaching their full potential at work/home from the earliest stages of this disease. Overwhelmingly, fatigue was identified as the cause. The impact of identifying an effective treatment for this symptom of MS cannot be overstated.
This abstract is presented on behalf of NARCRMS Investigators and Industry Advisory Board.