The economic burden of hypertriglyceridemia among US adults with diabetes or atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease on statin therapy.

BACKGROUND: Hypertriglyceridemia (HTG) is associated with increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. However, the cost burden of HTG-related CVD in high-risk US adults on statins has not been well characterized. OBJECTIVE: We estimated the HTG-related health care cost burden among US adults with CVD or diabetes taking statin therapy. METHODS: We estimated population sizes and annual health care costs among US adults aged ≥45 years with diabetes or CVD taking statin therapy with normal triglycerides (TGs) defined as TG < 150 mg/dL compared with those with HTG defined as TG ≥ 150 mg/dL. Population sizes were estimated from the 2007-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. Adjusted mean total annual health care costs in 2015 US dollars were estimated using the Optum Research Database. The annual total health care cost burden was estimated by multiplying the population size by the mean annual total incremental health care costs overall and within subgroups. RESULTS: There were 6.2 (95% confidence interval [CI], 5.4 - 7.1) million and 12.0 (95% CI, 11.1 - 12.9) million US adults aged ≥45 years with diabetes and/or CVD on statin therapy with TG ≥ 150 mg/dL and TG < 150 mg/dL, respectively. The mean adjusted incremental total one-year health care costs in adults with TG ≥ 150 mg/dL compared with those with TG < 150 mg/dL was $1730 (95% CI, $1160 - $2320). This leads to a projected annual incremental cost burden associated with HTG in patients with diabetes or CVD on statins of $10.7 billion (95% CI, $6.8 B - $14.6 B). CONCLUSION: In US adults on statins and at high risk for CVD, the health care costs associated with HTG are substantial.

All-Cause and Acute Pancreatitis Health Care Costs in Patients With Severe Hypertriglyceridemia.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess health care utilization and costs related to acute pancreatitis (AP) in patients with severe hypertriglyceridemia (sHTG) levels. METHODS: Patients with sHTG levels 1000 mg/dL or higher were identified from January 1, 2007, to June 30, 2013. The first identified incident triglyceride level was labeled as index date. All-cause, AP-related health care visits, and mean total all-cause costs in patients with and without AP were compared during 12 months postindex. A generalized linear model regression was used to compare costs while controlling for patient characteristics and comorbidities. RESULTS: Five thousand five hundred fifty sHTG patients were identified, and 5.4% of these patients developed AP during postindex. Patients with AP had significantly (P < 0.05) more all-cause outpatient visits, hospitalizations, longer length of stays during the hospital visits, and emergency department visits versus patients without AP. Mean (SD) unadjusted all-cause health care costs in the 12 months postindex were $25,343 ($33,139) for patients with AP compared with $15,195 ($24,040) for patients with no AP. The regression showed annual all-cause costs were 49.9% higher (P < 0.01) for patients with AP versus without AP. CONCLUSIONS: Patients who developed AP were associated with higher costs; managing patients with sHTG at risk of developing AP may help reduce unnecessary costs.

Effect of Combination Cholesterol-Lowering Therapy and Triglyceride-Lowering Therapy on Medical Costs in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

High triglyceride (TG) levels among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) are associated with higher medical costs. We analyzed the economic impact of TG-lowering therapies and whether the association between medical costs and therapy differed according to TG reduction. We conducted an observational cohort study of 184,932 patients with diabetes mellitus who had a TG measurement between January 2012 and June 2013 and a second TG measurement 3 to 15 months later. We identified 4 therapy groups (statin monotherapy, TG-specific monotherapy, statin/TG-specific combination therapy, or no therapy) and stratified those groups by percent change in TG (increased ≥5%, change of ≤4.9%, decreased 5% to 29%, decreased ≥30%). We compared change in medical costs between the year before and after therapy, adjusted for demographic and clinical characteristics. Of the 184,932 total patients, 143,549 (77.6%) received statin monotherapy, 900 (0.5%) received TG-specific monotherapy, 1,956 (1.1%) received statin and TG-specific combination therapy, and 38,527 (20.8%) received no prescription lipid agents. After covariate adjustment, statin/TG-specific agent recipients had a mean 1-year total cost reduction of $1,110. The greatest cost reduction was seen among statin/TG-specific combination therapy patients who reduced TG levels by ≥30% (-$2,859). Statin monotherapy patients who reduced TG by ≥30% also had a large reduction in adjusted costs (-$1,079). In conclusion, we found a substantial economic benefit to treating diabetic patients with statin/TG-specific combination lipid therapy compared with monotherapy of either type or no lipid pharmacotherapy. A TG reduction of ≥30% produced a particularly large reduction in 1-year medical costs.

Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Intake Is Positively Associated with Baseline Triglyceride Concentrations, and Changes in Intake Are Inversely Associated with Changes in HDL Cholesterol over 12 Months in a Multi-Ethnic Sample of Children.

BACKGROUND: Intake of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) is linked to greater cardiometabolic risk in adults. Although longitudinal evidence is sparse among children, SSB intake reduction is targeted to reduce cardiometabolic risk factors in this group. OBJECTIVE: We investigated characteristics associated with consumption of SSBs in a multi-ethnic sample of children/adolescents and measured cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between SSB intake and plasma HDL cholesterol and triglycerides (TGs) over 12 mo. METHODS: In a diverse cohort of children aged 8-15 y, cross-sectional associations (n = 613) between baseline SSB intake and blood lipid concentrations and longitudinal associations (n = 380) between mean SSB intake, changes in SSB intake, and lipid changes over 12 mo were assessed with multivariable linear regression. RESULTS: Greater SSB intake was associated with lower socioeconomic status, higher total energy intake, lower fruit/vegetable intake, and more sedentary time. In cross-sectional analysis, greater SSB intake was associated with higher plasma TG concentrations among consumers (62.4, 65.3, and 71.6 mg/dL in children who consumed >0 but <2, ≥2 but <7, and ≥7 servings/wk, respectively; P-trend: 0.03); plasma HDL cholesterol showed no cross-sectional association. In the longitudinal analysis, mean SSB intake over 12 mo was not associated with lipid changes; however, the 12-mo increase in plasma HDL-cholesterol concentration was greater among children who decreased their intake by ≥1 serving/wk (4.6 ± 0.8 mg/dL) compared with children whose intake stayed the same (2.0 ± 0.8 mg/dL) or increased (1.5 ± 0.8 mg/dL; P = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: In a multi-ethnic sample of children, intake of SSBs was positively associated with TG concentrations among consumers, and changes in SSB intake were inversely associated with HDL cholesterol concentration changes over 12 mo. Further research in large diverse samples of children is needed to study the public health implications of reducing SSB intake among children of different racial/ethnic groups. The Daily D Health Study was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01537809.

A multicenter study on etiology of acute pancreatitis in Beijing during 5 years.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to determine the etiology tendency of acute pancreatitis (AP) in the Beijing region and the relationship with influencing factors. METHODS: This retrospective multicenter study enrolled 8 representative general hospitals from January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2010. The etiology tendency was analyzed, and the relationship was defined with sex, aging, severity, mortality, recrudesce rate, length of stay, and hospitalization cost. RESULTS: The study enrolled 2461 patients. The total number was increasing year by year. Causes included biliary (1372, 55.75%), alcoholism (246, 10%), hypertriglyceridemia (255, 10.36%), and the others (588, 23.89%). Biliary AP was the most frequent primary cause. Hypertriglyceridemic AP increased at a faster rate than alcoholic AP. There was higher proportion of alcoholic and hypertriglyceridemic AP in men than in women. There is an increase of AP patients with ages 40 to 49 years and older than 70 years. Alcoholic and hypertriglyceridemic AP were higher in patients younger than the age of 50 years, and biliary pancreatitis was higher in patients older than 70 years. Severe AP was classified among 736 patients (29.9%). Etiology distribution was different between severe AP and mild AP (P < 0.001). Mortality in the hospital was 1.54%, and there was no difference in each group. Recrudesce of hypertriglyceridemic AP was higher (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Acute pancreatitis patients increased year by year in Beijing. Gallstones were the predominant etiological factor. There were different etiology proportion of AP according age, sex, and severity.

Clinical and economic outcomes in a real-world population of patients with elevated triglyceride levels.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated real-world treatment patterns, healthcare utilization, and costs of hypertriglyceridemia in a large commercially insured United States population. METHODS: This observational claims study was conducted among adult patients with TG > 500 mg/dL between 01/01/2007 and 04/30/2013. Patients were stratified into mutually exclusive cohorts based on their first available TG measurement (index date): TG ≥ 1500 (Cohort A); 750 ≤ TG < 1500 (Cohort B), and 500 < TG < 750 (Cohort C). Study inclusion required ≥ 12 months of eligibility pre- (baseline) and post-index date (follow-up). Patient characteristics and outcomes were assessed descriptively. Costs associated with acute pancreatitis episodes were estimated using a Generalized Linear Model regression. RESULTS: We identified a total of 1964 patients in Cohort A, 7432 in Cohort B, and 17,500 in Cohort C. Patients were young (mean age 46-48) and mostly male (75%-80%). Treatment switching and augmentation occurred rarely, and almost 50% of patients discontinued their initial treatment. At baseline, healthcare utilization and costs were highest in Cohort A (mean all-cause medical and pharmacy costs, $8850). At follow-up, the number of patients with dyslipidemia-related office and pharmacy claims and related costs almost doubled across the cohorts. Mean all-cause costs/patient in Cohort A at follow-up were $12,642, of which $3730 were dyslipidemia-related. Acute pancreatitis episodes were associated with >300% increase in total all-cause costs in Cohort A. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that severe hypertriglyceridemia is undertreated and healthcare utilization and costs scale with magnitude of TG elevation. Patients with more severe hypertriglyceridemia received greater medical and pharmacy services. Managing severe hypertriglyceridemia more aggressively and preventing acute pancreatitis may generate cost savings.

Patient characteristics and medical care costs associated with hypertriglyceridemia.

Hypertriglyceridemia is a lipid abnormality prevalent in 1/3 of the United States adult population. Our objective was to describe the independent contribution of hypertriglyceridemia to medical care costs. Using an observational cohort of 108,324 members of Kaiser Permanente Northwest, we analyzed the electronic medical records of those patients aged ≥18 years who had triglyceride (TG) measurements in 2008 and had been members of Kaiser Permanente Northwest for the entire year. After assigning patients to TG categories of <150, 150 to 199, 200 to 499, and ≥500 mg/dl, we compared the annual direct medical costs. To isolate the independent contribution of the TG levels, we adjusted the costs for age, gender, body mass index, blood pressure, smoking history, low-density lipoprotein and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and renal disease. Of the 108,324 study subjects, 64.1% had normal TG levels (<150 mg/dl), 16.4% had borderline high levels (150 to 199 mg/dl), 18.0% had high TG levels (200 to 499 mg/dl), and 1.5% had very high TG levels (≥500 mg/dl). After adjustment, the patients with TG levels ≥500 mg/dl (severe hypertriglyceridemia) had significantly greater mean total costs ($8,567, 99% confidence interval $7,034 to $10,100) than those with levels <150 mg/dl ($6,186, 99% confidence interval $6,058 to $6,314), 150 to 199 mg/dl ($6,449, 99% confidence interval $6,196 to $6,702), or 200 to 499 mg/dl ($6,376, 99% confidence interval $6,118 to $6,634). The differences were driven by both outpatient and pharmaceutical costs. The inpatient costs were also greater for those with TG levels ≥500 mg/dl, but the difference did not reach statistical significance. In conclusion, severe hypertriglyceridemia was associated with 33% to 38% greater medical costs per annum, independent of resource-intensive conditions such as cardiovascular disease, heart failure, hypertension, and diabetes.

Pharmacoeconomic analysis of hypertriglyceridemia treatment at medical institutions.

It has been demonstrated that HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors effectively decrease low density lipoprotein and total cholesterol levels, and presently, HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors are most widely used in hyperlipidemia treatment. On the other hand, it has been demonstrated that fibrate agents decrease triglyceride levels more effectively compared to HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors. A cost-effectiveness study comparing fenofibrate, a fibrate agent, and atorvastatin was therefore conducted in hypertriglyceridemia patients. Referring to an analytical method published in the UK, the percentage of patients received fenofibrate and atorvastatin treatments at each dose level was estimated from prescription records at the medical institutions investigated. Changes in the total cholesterol and triglyceride values after the drug administration were investigated examining published reports. Based on the said data, the treatment effectiveness was measured by the percentage of patients who achieved the target lipid levels. The treatment costs were estimated based on the number of patients investigated and reimbursement prices of the drugs. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of fenofibrate in decreasing triglyceride levels was dominant over atorvastatin. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of atorvastatin in decreasing low density lipoprotein cholesterol levels was JPY 69911. This provides a model for choosing drug treatments that reflects clinical practices at medical institutions by substituting figures for individual cases.