Costs of Surgical Treatment of GERD

21/10/2002

A recent shows that although people with gastroesophageal reflux disease experienced a 62 percent decline in the average number of days of acid reduction therapy after surgery, one-half of patients received at least one prescription for acid reduction therapy during the 18 months following surgery.

"To assess the economic implications of medical versus surgical management of GERD, we analyzed medical costs for patients one year before and 18 months after surgery," said the study's lead author Erin M. Sullivan, Ph.D., of the Boston Scientific Corporation. "The assumption has been that the one-time cost of surgery is lower than the long-term cost of drugs, but we found that the surgery costs were not offset by the reduction in medication costs during an 18-month follow-up period," said Dr. Sullivan.

For the study, which was presented at the 67th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology, the researchers examined data from a national database of publicly and privately insured patients.

"During the 18 months following surgery, average medication costs were lower in surgically managed patients compared to medically managed patients. However, due to the surgery costs, overall medical costs were higher among surgically managed patients," said Dr. Sullivan. "Our results indicate that we need to follow GERD patients over a longer follow-up period to determine the actual cost-effectiveness of surgery."

MEDICA.de, Source: American College of Gastroenterology

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