A 6-year trend of the healthcare costs of arthritis in a population-based cohort of older women.

OBJECTIVE To provide an accurate representation of the economic burden of arthritis by estimating the adjusted incremental healthcare cost of arthritis at multiple percentiles and reporting the cost trends across time. METHODS A healthcare cost study based on health survey and linked administrative data, where costs were estimated from the government's perspective in dollars per person per year. Quantile regression was used to estimate the adjusted incremental cost at the 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th, and 95th percentiles. RESULTS Data from 4287 older Australian women were included. The median incremental healthcare cost of arthritis was, in 2012 Australian dollars, $480 (95% CI: $498-759) in 2009; however, 5% of individuals had 5-times higher costs than the 'average individual' with arthritis. Healthcare cost of arthritis did not increase significantly from 2003 to 2009. CONCLUSION Healthcare cost of arthritis represents a substantial burden for the governments. Future research should continue to monitor the economic burden of arthritis.