Healthcare Utilization and Direct Costs Prior to Subspecialty Care in Children with Chronic Pain Compared with Other Chronic Childhood Diseases: A Cohort Study.

OBJECTIVES: To understand the burden associated with pediatric chronic pain (CP) on the healthcare system compared with other costly chronic diseases prior to subspecialty care.

STUDY DESIGN: In this retrospective cohort study, we assessed all-cause healthcare utilization and direct healthcare costs associated with pediatric CP (n=91) compared with juvenile-onset arthritis (JA, n=135), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD, n=90), type 1 or type 2 diabetes (T1D, n=475, T2D, n=289), anxiety (n=7,193) and controls (n=273) two and five years prior to patients entering subspecialty care in Manitoba, Canada. Linked data from physician encounters, emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and prescriptions were extracted from administrative databases. Differences in healthcare utilization and direct healthcare costs associated with CP versus the other conditions were tested using negative binomial and zero-inflated negative binomial regression models, respectively.

RESULTS: After adjustment for age at diagnosis, sex, location of residence, and socioeconomic status, CP continued to be associated with the highest number of consulted physicians and subspecialists and the highest number of physician billings compared with all other conditions (p<0.01, respectively). CP was significantly associated with higher physician costs than JA, IBD, T1D, T2D, or controls (p<0.01, respectively); anxiety was associated with the highest physician and prescription costs among all cohorts (p<0.01, respectively).

CONCLUSION: Compared with chronic inflammatory and endocrinologic conditions, pediatric CP and anxiety were associated with substantial burden on the healthcare system prior to subspecialty care, suggesting a need to assess gaps and resources in the management of CP and mental health conditions in the primary care setting.