The purpose of this study is to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of treating patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA) with high molecular weight hyaluronic acid (HMW HA) compared to low molecular weight (LMW) and conservative treatment.

Decision analytic models were created to conduct a cost-effectiveness analysis for early/moderate, as well as late stage knee OA.

High molecular weight intra-articular injections with hyaluronic acid (HMW IA-HA) formulations demonstrate cost-effectiveness when compared to conservative treatment options and low molecular weight hyaluronic acid (LMW HA) in patients with early/mid stage knee OA.

The cost-effectiveness of HMW HA in patients with later stage knee OA was not as apparent, particularly because of the uncertainty in the proportion of patients with late stage OA who have a meaningful improvement after receiving intra-articular injections (IA-HA).

This cost-effectiveness finding supports the use of IA-HA in patients with early and moderate knee OA, as the benefits of IA-HA are apparent within the patient population with mild to moderate knee OA.