I costi del dolore cronico/ricorrente in medicina

Authors: Livio Garattini V Caimi S Cipriani D Roggeri D Lanzeni C Viscarra Gruppo di Studio PaCo

Publish Date: 2013/02/27

Volume: 6, Issue: 1, Pages: 39-46

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Abstract

48 General Practitioners GPs in Italy recruited 543 patients who attended a consultation during the period January–September 2001 Afterwards patients were classified in three groups according to drugs’ prescriptions Group 1 173 patients not treated with NSAIDs Group 2 285 patients treated with non selective NSAIDs only and Group 3 85 patients treated with at least one selective NSAID Considered costs included drugs diagnostic procedures laboratory tests and hospital admissions GPs were asked to split all costs into two categories i costs related to pain ii costs related to gastrointestinal GI adverse eventsPatients of Group 3 were significantly older than the others and had a higher proportion of ostheoarthritis as diagnosis Differences between mean costs per patient by group Group 1 € 2647 Group 2 € 10367 Group 3 € 13900 were significant Costs of Group 3 were higher also when the analysis was limited to GI adverse events Group 3 € 683 Group 2 € 442 Group 1 € 110

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