Lifetime costs of patients with clinically detected uterine fibroids: An employer's perspective

Excess reproductive lifetime health care costs and total (health care plus work loss) costs of clinically detected uterine fibroids (CDUF) in employed women were estimated. An employer claims database of 1.2 million beneficiaries was examined, and 3902 women were identified as being treated for CDUF between 1999 and 2003. Lifetime costs were calculated from CDUF onset to age 51 years, the national median age of the beginning of menopause. Excess costs were measured as the difference between costs for CDUF patients and matched controls from an employer's perspective and extrapolated to the United States. The excess reproductive lifetime health care cost of CDUF patients was $10,910 and total costs were $12,787. The 2003 annual national excess health care cost of CDUF patients was $18.2 billion; total costs were $21.3 billion. These findings show that CDUF is associated with a substantial economic burden to employers.