Cost-effectiveness of treatment for moderate to severe psoriasis at the Rizal Medical Center

ABSTRACT

Background@#Cost-effectivenessstudiesareimportant for chronic diseases such as psoriasis, which may cause significant financial burden and negatively affect the patient's quality of life.@*Objectives@#This study evaluated which among the treatment options, namely topicals phototherapy (TP), topicals + systemic (TS), and topicals + biologics (TB), is the most cost-effective for the management of moderate to severe psoriasis at the Rizal Medical Center's Psoriasis Center@*Methods@#A total of 65 moderate to severe psoriasis patients seen at the Rizal Medical Center's Psoriasis Center in 2021 were included in this retrospective cross-sectional study. Chart review was conducted to account all direct costs of treatment. The effectiveness in relation to the overall cost was assessed using the psoriasis area severity index (PASI) and the dermatological life quality index (DLQI).@*Results@#Our study showed that TS is the most cost-effective treatment for moderate to severe psoriasis with the lowest cost per PASI75 and DLQI<5 improvement valued at Php335.36, followed by TP valued at Php 762.87, and lastly by TB at Php 19,058.03. Despite TB incurring the highest cost, all patients in this treatment group showed the highest mean difference of PASI and DLQI.@*Conclusions@#Our findings suggest that topical with systemic medication is the most cost-effective treatment for moderate to severe psoriasis