Health Care Costs Associated with Ankylosing Spondylitis in Turkey: An Analysis from Nationwide Real-World Data

Table 1

Demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with incident and prevalent ankylosing spondylitis.

	Incident		Prevalent
	𝑁=603	Percentage (STD)	𝑁= 2.383	Percentage (STD)	𝑃 value
Age (continuous)	38.74	11.55	40.52	11.35		0.0007
Age 18–39	352	58.37%	1221	51.24%	0.0017
Age 40–64	237	39.30%	1100	46.16%	0.0025
Age 65+	14	2.32%	62	2.60%	NS
Female	267	44.28%	905	37.98%	0.0046
Region
Eastern Anatolia region	10	1.66%	44	1.85%	NS
Southeastern Anatolia region	14	2.32%	32	1.34%	0.0812
Marmara region	297	49.25%	1094	45.91%	NS
Aegean region	77	12.77%	400	16.79%	0.0162
Mediterranean region	41	6.80%	182	7.64%	NS
Black Sea region	34	5.64%	110	4.62%	NS
Central Anatolia region	130	21.56%	521	21.86%	NS
Comorbidities
Elixhauser index score	2.24	3.89	6.04	5.01	<0.0001
Cardiovascular	67	11.11%	390	16.37%	0.0014
Diabetics	36	5.97%	192	8.06%	0.0847
Respiratory	144	23.88%	896	37.60%	<0.0001
Allergy	46	7.63%	148	6.21%	NS
Medications
TNF	45	7.46%	828	34.75%	<0.0001
NSAIDs	603	71.64%	2383	77.01%	0.0055
DMARDs	129	21.39%	555	23.29%	NS

STD: standard deviation; NS: not significant; TNF: tumor necrosis factor; NSAIDs: nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; DMARDs: disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs.