Cost evaluation of hyaluronic acid for knee osteoarthritis in everyday practice

Medicoeconomic evaluation of hyaluronic acid for knee osteoarthritis in everyday practice: The MESSAGE study.

Article specifications

This observational, multicenter, longitudinal, before-after study was published in 2007 in journal of Joint Bone Spine (IF 2007: 3.052) by French orthopedics.in this study medical costs (admissions, outpatient visits, investigations, and treatments) and non-medical costs (sick leaves and transportation) during the 3 months before three intraarticular injections of hyaluronic acid was compared to the 6 months after it.  Secondary objective was to evaluate treatment benefits in terms of pain, function, and quality of life. This study included 296 patients (mean age, 69 years; 30% with obesity; 65% women) with Knee osteoarthritis which analyzed for medical and non-medical cost of the treatment 3 month before intraarticular hyaluronic acid injections and every 3 month after injection for 6 month.

Results

The results of the study showed that the costs of knee osteoarthritis decreased during the 6 months after intra articular hyaluronic acid therapy, indicating that the cost of the medication was more than offset by the decreased need for other treatments. Concomitantly, clinical benefits were obtained. Under the conditions of everyday practice, hyaluronic acid may provide medical benefits at an acceptable cost.