Effects of cardiovascular single pill combinations compared with identical multi-pill therapies on healthcare cost and utilization in Germany

Thomas Wilke, Burkhard Weisser, Hans-Georg Predel, Roland E Schmieder, Sven Wassmann, Anton Gillessen, Jörg Blettenberg, Ulf Maywald, Olaf Randerath, Sabrina Müller, Michael Böhm

Publication: Contribution to journalJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Abstract

Aim: This study assessed whether a single pill combination (SPC) is associated with lower direct healthcare costs. Materials & methods: Anonymized claims data of patients ≥18 years treated with drugs for cardiovascular (CV)-related diseases either as a single pill combination or multi-pill combination (follow-up to 1 year) were evaluated. After propensity score matching, 59,336 out of 1,369,840 patients were analyzed. Results: In all cohorts, patients receiving a single pill combination had a lower frequency of general practitioner and specialist visits. The patients also had a significantly lower ratio of all-cause hospitalization days and number of CV-related prescriptions as well as all-cause prescriptions (with one exception) compared with those receiving a multi-pill combination. Conclusion: Direct CV-related costs were significantly lower in four out of seven comparisons, with a trend toward lower costs in the other three comparisons.

Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of comparative effectiveness research
Volume11
Issue number6
Pages (from-to)411-422
Number of pages12
ISSN2042-6305
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 04.2022

Research areas and keywords

  • Antihypertensive Agents/therapeutic use
  • Cardiovascular Diseases/drug therapy
  • Drug Combinations
  • Health Care Costs
  • Hospitalization
  • Humans
  • Retrospective Studies

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