Healthcare resource utilization and costs after initiating direct-acting oral anticoagulants or low molecular weight heparins in patients with venous thromboembolism.

backgroundVenous thromboembolism (VTE) can lead to significant healthcare resource utilization (HcRU) and costs. First-line treatments such as direct-acting oral anticoagulants (DOAC) and low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) are utilized for VTE management. There are limited observational studies to determine which first-line drug for VTE is associated with lower HcRU and cost. Therefore, we sought to compare HcRU and costs of commercially insured patients with VTE who initiated DOAC or LMWH in the US.

methodsWe utilized Merative MarketScan Research Database (2016-2021) to identify adults initiating DOAC or LMWH for VTE. Baseline measures were assessed 12 months prior to the index date of drug initiation. Inverse probability of treatment weighting was used to control confounding. For HcRU, logistic regression was used to model emergency room and inpatient visits and the negative binomial count model was used for outpatient visits. The average marginal effect for total healthcare cost comparing DOAC with LMWH users was estimated using a generalized linear model. HcRU and costs were evaluated for 12 months posttreatment initiation.

resultsDOAC users had lower odds of inpatient visits (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.53, 95% CI 0.46 to 0.59), emergency room visits (aOR 0.86, 95% CI 0.73 to 0.99), and outpatient visits (adjusted incident rate ratio 0.52, 95% CI 0.50 to 0.54) in comparison to LMWH users. DOAC users had lower total healthcare costs of -$9573 (95% CI -$11,149 to -$7997) (US dollars).

conclusionThis cohort study suggests that DOAC use is associated with fewer inpatient, outpatient, and emergency room visits, and lower healthcare costs compared to LMWH use for VTE management.