Dec 10, 2020
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 9, 2020 (HealthDay News) Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have a loss of life expectancy (LE) of 4.97 years, according to a study published online Dec. 9 in
Arthritis & Rheumatology.
Ying-Ming Chiu, M.D., Ph.D., from China Medical University in Taichung, Taiwan, and colleagues obtained all claims data from the National Health Insurance of Taiwan during 1999 to 2016 to estimate the cumulative incidence rate for those aged 16 to 84 years (CIR
16-84), LE, loss of LE, and lifetime health care expenditures for incident RA after 2003.
During 2003 to 2016, 29,352 new RA cases were identified. The researchers observed a decreasing trend for CIR
16-84 for both genders; LE was 26.3 years for RA, and lifetime cost was $72,953. Loss of LE was 4.97 years for RA patients. Compared with men of the same age, female RA patients seemed to survive one to two years longer, resulting in higher lifetime expenditures for women. The loss of LE for women with RA w