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Rehabilitation Benefits Highly Motivated Patients: A Six-Year Prospective Cost-Effectiveness Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 May 2004

Birgitta E. M. Grahn
Affiliation:
Kronoberg County Council, Lund University
Lars A. Borgquist
Affiliation:
Linköping University
Charlotte S. Ekdahl
Affiliation:
Lund University
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Abstract

Objectives:To compare the six-year outcome of a multidisciplinary rehabilitation program with continued care within primary care in terms of health-related quality of life and cost-effectiveness. Furthermore, predictors of total costs to society were examined.

Methods:A prospective, matched, controlled, six-year follow-up was designed. The study included 236 patients (42 men, 194 women) nineteen to sixty-one years of age with prolonged musculoskeletal disorders. The intervention comprised a four-week multidisciplinary rehabilitation and an active one-year follow-up based on a bio-psycho-social approach. The control group received continued care within primary care. The main outcome measures were quality of life measured using the Nottingham Health Profile, motivation identified by an interview and patient-specific total costs to society. Differences in mean costs between groups and cost-effectiveness were evaluated by applying nonparametric bootstrapping techniques.

Results: Total costs per treated patient in the rehabilitation group and the control group were £43,464 (SD=31,093) and £44,123 (SD=33,333), respectively (p=.896). Multidisciplinary rehabilitation improved quality of life somewhat more cost-effectively. Motivation was revealed as a predictor of total costs.

Conclusion: In the long-run, the evaluated multidisciplinary rehabilitation improved the highly motivated patients' quality of life most cost-effectively. The latently motivated patients may require rehabilitation, which is less intensive and with a longer duration, to improve their health in a whole-person perspective. The burden of prolonged musculoskeletal disorders to society was reaffirmed. Motivation could be a predictor of total costs, a factor which has to be taken into account in the examination procedure.

Information

Type
GENERAL ESSAYS
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press
Figure 0

Demographic Data and Baseline Characteristics of Patients in the Rehabilitation Group and in the Control Group

Figure 1

Total Direct and Indirect Costs Due to Muskuloskeletal Disorders in the Rehabilitation Group and the Control Group (in British Poundsa): A Six-Year Follow-up

Figure 2

Comparison of the Rehabilitation Group and the Control Group in Terms of Total Costs (£)a and Improvements in Health-Related Quality of Life at the Six-Year Follow-up

Figure 3

Cost-effectiveness plane for the rehabilitation group compared with the control group for health-related quality of life, measured by the Nottingham Health Profile global score, with incremental three percent discounted costs/effect pairs distribution. The figures show 2,000 of the five million replications obtained in each model by bias-corrected bootstrapping. Asterisks indicate £1.00=SEK 14.87 (2001). The percentages show the distribution between the northeast quadrant (improvement and more expensive), the southeast quadrant (improvement and less expensive), the southwest quadrant (deterioration and less expensive), and the northwest quadrant (deterioration and more expensive).