Economic Impact of Rheumatic Diseases

Abstract

The prevalence and incidence of rheumatic diseases (RD) have been growing over the last two decades, related to the timely and accurate diagnosis, affecting in two ways the Health Systems (HS) and society, on one hand to early detection can prevent further functional compromise and sequels; and second, a greater cost in detection, approach, monitoring and treatment that ultimately impact on the prevention of functional decline of patients who suffer it. The substantial increase in costs of health care service, the growing demand of these services, the increase of users without contributing to its financing and the latest technological advances in medical science have strong implications for the maintenance and provision of services, as well as increase the costs in this sector, creating changes in demand; it makes imperative the economic evaluation of interventions carried out in this social service. Moreover, the approach to health has evolved significantly and nowadays, not only is essential to consider the evaluation of the patient to describe their evolution but also analyze which health technologies have the best cost/effect in order to achieve that decision makers to choose the most optimal according to the HS and typical econometric conditions of each nation. In this chapter, will be presented a current view of how to measure the economic and functional impact of RD, the main results in the field and how these concepts are applied from Colombian perspective. Obviously given the relevance of these health technologies, we will approach very much to biological therapies and diseases in which are often used, predominantly Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)