Original Articles
Vol. 65 No. 6 (2013)
https://doi.org/10.4081/reumatismo.2013.687

The social cost of rheumatoid arthritis in Italy: the results of an estimation exercise

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Received: 24 July 2013
Published: 14 March 2014
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Rheumatoid arthritis, Social cost, Review, Cost of illness, Italy.

Authors

G. Turchetti
g.turchetti@sssup.it
Institute of Management, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy.
S. Bellelli
Institute of Management, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy.
M. Mosca
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Italy.
The objective of this study is to estimate the mean annual social cost per adult person and the total social cost of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in Italy. A literature review was performed by searching primary economic studies on adults in order to collect cost data of RA in Italy in the last decade. The review results were merged with data of institutional sources for estimating - following the methodological steps of the cost of illness analysis - the social cost of RA in Italy. The mean annual social cost of RA was € 13,595 per adult patient in Italy. Affecting 259,795 persons, RA determines a social cost of € 3.5 billions in Italy. Non-medical direct cost and indirect cost represent the main cost items (48% and 31%) of the total social cost of RA in Italy. Based on these results, it appears evident that the assessment of the economic burden of RA solely based on direct medical costs evaluation gives a limited view of the phenomenon.

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G. Turchetti, Institute of Management, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa
Full Professor of Healthcare Economics and Management
S. Bellelli, Institute of Management, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa
Research Assistant, Health Statistician
M. Mosca, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa
Associate Professor

How to Cite



1.
The social cost of rheumatoid arthritis in Italy: the results of an estimation exercise. Reumatismo [Internet]. 2014 Mar. 14 [cited 2026 Sep. 11];65(6):271-7. Available from: https://www.reumatismo.org/reuma/article/view/reumatismo.2013.687

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