$922m musculoskeletal meds
August 18, 2014
MUSCULOSKELETAL conditions
such as arthritis are the fourth
most expensive group of diseases,
with $922m spent on prescription
pharmaceuticals for these
conditions, a report from the
Australian Institute of Health and
Welfare (AIHW) has found.
Spending on these diseases in
total was $5.69b in 2008-09, or 9%
of total health care spending, the
report found, with prescription
pharmaceuticals taking up 16% of
this spend.
Osteoarthritis had the largest
proportion of spending on
musculoskeletal conditions in
2008-09 at 29% or $1.64m, of the
total, followed by back problems at
$1.18m or 21%.
Rheumatoid arthritis had
the largest proportion of
pharmaceutical spend on
musculoskeletal conditions in 2008-
09, at 30%, followed by ‘other’
musculoskeletal conditions at 22%
and osteoporosis at 21%.
AIHW spokesperson Louise
York said spending varied across
different conditions, with 77% of
spending for rheumatoid arthritis
on pharmaceuticals, or $273m, and
63%, or $193m, for osteoporosis,
compared with 6%, or $98m, for
osteoarthritis, and 13%, or $153m,
for back problems.
She told PD that this higher
proportion of spend for rheumatoid
arthritis and osteoporosis was
likely due to the treatments for
these conditions being largely
pharmaceutical, as well as the
expense of the newer biologic
disease-modifying anti-rheumatic
drugs (bDMARDs) used in
rheumatoid arthritis, AIHW said.
About 79,000 bDMARDs were
dispensed in the report time period
and almost $143m in benefits were
paid, AIHW said.
Overall, estimates for
pharmaceutical expenditure on
musculoskeletal conditions was
an underestimate of the real costs
involved, due to various sections
of data not being captured by the
report, it said.
Expenditure on musculoskeletal
conditions was greatest for people
aged 65 to 74 at $1.24m but per
person expenditure was highest for
those aged 75 to 84 at an average
of $1,007 per person, it found.
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