Table 5.
Mean costs per patient per year for medication subgroups (mean euro (SD)) of primary and secondary care IBS patients and their matched controls specified per year before and after diagnosis
| T = −3 Mean (SD) | T = −2 Mean (SD) | T = −1 Mean (SD) | Mean annual before Mean (SD) | T = +1 Mean (SD) | T = +2 Mean (SD) | T = +3 Mean (SD) | Mean annual after Mean (SD) | Mean dif Mean (SD) | p value difference | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Laxatives | Primary care patients | – | 10 (38) | 13 (41) | 12 (40) | 32 (105) | 34 (107) | 39 (123) | 34 (110 | 23 (101) | 0.72 |
| Secondary care patients | 9 (48) | 9 (40) | 18 (45) | 14 (44) | 46 (76) | 33 (76) | 36 (83) | 39 (78) | 25 (66) | ||
| Primary care controls | – | 1 (7) | 3 (14) | 2 (12) | 3 (17) | 2 (13) | 4 (22) | 3 (17) | 1 (17) | ||
| Secondary care controls | 5 (28) | 5 (28) | 5 (29) | 5 (28) | 5 (30) | 6 (31) | 6 (32) | 6 (31) | 0 (30) | ||
| 2. Spasmolytics | Primary care patients | – | 6 (24) | 6 (24) | 6 (24) | 11 (31) | 7 (25) | 9 (33) | 10 (29) | 4 (28) | 0.25 |
| Secondary care patients | 12 (70) | 13 (75) | 14 (76) | 13 (75) | 14 (73) | 16 (77) | 16 (76) | 15 (75) | 2 (75) | ||
| Primary care controls | – | 0 (0) | 0 (2) | 0 (2) | 0 (6) | 0 (3) | 0 (3) | 0 (4) | 0 (4) | 0.99 | |
| Secondary care controls | 6 (52) | 7 (53) | 7 (52) | 7 (52) | 7 (52) | 8 (53) | 7 (47) | 7 (51) | 0 (52) | ||
| 3. Anti-depressants | Primary care patients | – | 7 (45) | 10 (45) | 9 (45) | 15 (84) | 17 (100) | 20 (100) | 16 (94) | 7 (86) | 0.66 |
| Secondary care patients | 2 (13) | 2 (16) | 5 (20) | 3 (18) | 9 (29) | 8 (29) | 9 (32) | 8 (30) | 5 (25) | ||
| Primary care controls | – | 2 (11) | 4 (38) | 4 (33) | 8 (49) | 10 (67) | 8 (51) | 9 (56) | 5 (53) | 0.02× | |
| Secondary care controls | 1 (9) | 1 (9) | 1 (10) | 1 (10) | 1 (9) | 1 (9) | 1 (11) | 1 (10) | 0 (10) | ||
| 4. Antacids | Primary care patients | – | 83 (229) | 72 (181) | 75 (196) | 76 (184) | 70 (155) | 60 (138) | 70 (164) | −5 (171) | <0.01× |
| Secondary care patients | 47 (132) | 56 (139) | 70 (153) | 62 (146) | 117 (214) | 113 (204) | 115 (204) | 115 (209) | 54 (186) | ||
| Primary care controls | – | 26 (98) | 22 (78) | 23 (84) | 27 (115) | 30 (112) | 29 (106) | 28 (112) | 5 (107) | 0.16 | |
| Secondary care controls | 36 (120) | 37 (115) | 36 (114) | 36 (115) | 36 (116) | 35 (110) | 33 (106) | 35 (112) | −1 (113) | ||
| 5. Hypnotics | Primary care patients | – | 12 (38) | 8 (29) | 10 (32) | 8 (32) | 7 (29) | 4 (19) | 7 (28) | −3 (29) | <0.01× |
| Secondary care patients | 8 (30) | 9 (33) | 9 (34) | 9 (33) | 12 (41) | 13 (42) | 11 (40) | 12 (41) | 3 (38) | ||
| Primary care controls | – | 6 (23) | 5 (22) | 5 (22) | 6 (27) | 5 (25) | 3 (19) | 5 (25) | 0 (24) | 0.99 | |
| Controls to referred | 6 (29) | 6 ± 27) | 6 (27) | 6 (27) | 6 (28) | 6 (28) | 5 (26) | 5 (28) | 0 (28) | ||
| 6. Other ATC group N drugsa | Primary care patients | – | 55 (139) | 45 (152) | 48 (148) | 53 (144) | 71 (234) | 75 (274) | 64 (214) | 16 (203) | 0.40 |
| Secondary care patients | 83 (309) | 82 (305) | 90 (357) | 86 (334) | 106 (397) | 115 (410) | 120 (412) | 112 (404) | 26 (377) | ||
| Primary care controls | – | 28 (79) | 56 (311) | 47 (265) | 64 (456) | 65 (359) | 65 (352) | 65 (400) | 17 (378) | 0.29 | |
| Secondary care controls | 55 (246) | 60 (292) | 60 (319) | 59 (300) | 64 (354) | 58 (306) | 58 (293) | 61 (327) | 1 (316) | ||
| 7. Other ATC group A drugsb | Primary care patients | – | 44 (183) | 42 (194) | 43 (191) | 40 (178) | 41 (134) | 46 (141) | 42 (155) | −1 (163) | <0.01× |
| Secondary care patients | 20 (97) | 22 (95) | 28 (125) | 25 (112) | 64 (223) | 75 (257) | 99 (304) | 75 (253) | 50 (207) | ||
| Primary care controls | – | 29 (97) | 35 (146) | 33 (133) | 32 (170) | 36 (195) | 24 (120) | 32 (169) | −2 (163) | 0.88 | |
| Secondary care controls | 42 (182) | 45 (193) | 45 (186) | 45 (188) | 43 (182) | 45 (188) | 42 (185) | 44 (185) | −1 (186) | ||
| 8. All other drugsc | Primary care patients | – | 182 (321) | 252 (454) | 232 (419) | 287 (508) | 333 (649) | 497 (1944) | 354 (1085) | 123 (992) | 0.02× |
| Secondary care patients | 296 (830) | 352 (1009) | 397 (1065) | 367 (1015) | 570 (1504) | 627 (1565) | 757 (1859) | 627 (1604) | 261 (1392) | ||
| Primary care controls | – | 306 (678) | 356 (1263) | 341 (1124) | 308 (1082) | 322 (1070) | 356 (1320) | 325 (1140) | −17 (1137) | 0.57 | |
| Secondary care controls | 373 (1258) | 393 (1235) | 397 (1295) | 392 (1270) | 399 (1464) | 401 (1202) | 410 (1152) | 402 (1320) | 9 (1299) | ||
T = −3 indicates three years before diagnosis, T = +1 one year after diagnosis and so forth
×Significant difference at alpha = 0.05
ATC group N drugs
aATC group N drugs: Drugs typically aimed at the neurological system, excluding Anti-depressants and Hypnotics
bATC group A drugs: Drugs typically aimed at the alimentary tract, excluding laxatives, spasmolytics and antacids
cExcluding ATC group A and group N drugs