Observational study assessing demographic, economic and clinical factors associated with access and utilization of health care services of patients with multiple sclerosis under treatment with interferon beta-1b (EXTAVIA)

Multiple sclerosis (MS) results in an extensive use of the health care system, even within the first years of diagnosis. The effectiveness and accessibility of the health care system may affect patients' quality of life. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the health care resource use...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2014-11, Vol.9 (11), p.e113933-e113933
Main Authors: Hadjigeorgiou, Georgios, Dardiotis, Efthimios, Tsivgoulis, Georgios, Doskas, Triantafyllos, Petrou, Damianos, Makris, Nikolaos, Vlaikidis, Nikolaos, Thomaidis, Thomas, Kyritsis, Athanasios, Fakas, Nikolaos, Treska, Xoulietta, Karageorgiou, Clementine, Sotirli, Stefania, Giannoulis, Christos, Papadimitriou, Dimitra, Mylonas, Ioannis, Kouremenos, Evaggelos, Vlachos, Georgios, Georgiopoulos, Dimitrios, Mademtzoglou, Despoina, Vikelis, Michalis, Zintzaras, Elias
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accessibility
Adult
Aged
Analysis of Variance
Biological response modifiers
Biology and Life Sciences
Chi-Square Distribution
Chronic illnesses
Clinical trials
Data collection
Demographics
Drug therapy
Drugs
Female
Females
Health care
Health care industry
Health care policy
Health services
Health Services - economics
Health Services - utilization
Health Services Accessibility - economics
Health Services Accessibility - statistics & numerical data
Hospitals
Humans
Insurance
Interferon
Interferon beta
Interferon beta-1b - therapeutic use
Life Sciences
Male
Medical care
Medicine
Medicine and Health Sciences
Middle Aged
Multiple sclerosis
Multiple Sclerosis - drug therapy
Neurology
Observational studies
Patient satisfaction
Patients
Physicians
Public health
Quality of life
Retrospective Studies
Socioeconomic Factors
Studies
Utilization
Viral antigens
Young Adult
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Summary:Multiple sclerosis (MS) results in an extensive use of the health care system, even within the first years of diagnosis. The effectiveness and accessibility of the health care system may affect patients' quality of life. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the health care resource use of MS patients under interferon beta-1b (EXTAVIA) treatment in Greece, the demographic or clinical factors that may affect this use and also patient satisfaction with the health care system. Structured interviews were conducted for data collection. In total, 204 patients (74.02% females, mean age (SD) 43.58 (11.42) years) were enrolled in the study. Analysis of the reported data revealed that during the previous year patients made extensive use of health services in particular neurologists (71.08% visited neurologists in public hospitals, 66.67% in private offices and 48.53% in insurance institutes) and physiotherapists. However, the majority of the patients (52.45%) chose as their treating doctor private practice neurologists, which may reflect accessibility barriers or low quality health services in the public health system. Patients seemed to be generally satisfied with the received health care, support and information on MS (84.81% were satisfied from the information provided to them). Patients' health status (as denoted by disease duration, disability status and hospitalization needs) and insurance institute were found to influence their visits to neurologists. Good adherence (up to 70.1%) to the study medication was reported. Patients' feedback on currently provided health services could direct these services towards the patients' expectations.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0113933