Economic and Health Care Burdens of Hepatitis Delta: A Study of Commercially Insured Adults in the United States

Background and Aims: The paucity of data regarding the extent of hepatitis delta virus (HDV) associated health care burden in the United States is an important obstacle to assessing the cost-effectiveness of potential intervention strategies. In this study, we characterized the health care use and cost burdens of HDV in the United States using real-world claims data. Approach and Results: We conducted a case-control study using the Truven Health MarketScan Commercial Claims databases from 2011-2014. A total of 2,727 HDV cases were matched 1:1 by sociodemographic characteristics and comorbidities to chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) controls using propensity scores. The HDV group had significantly higher prevalence of substance abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, decompensated cirrhosis, cirrhosis, and hepatitis C virus compared to patients with chronic HBV. First HDV diagnosis was associated with significant increases in the total number of health care claims (25.61 vs. 28.99; P < 0.0001) and total annual health care costs ($19,476 vs. $23,605; P < 0.0001) compared with pre-HDV baseline. The case-control analysis similarly indicated higher total claims (28.99 vs. 25.19; P < 0.0001) and health care costs ($23,605 vs. $18,228; P < 0.0001) in HDV compared with HBV alone. Compared with HBV controls, HDV cases had an adjusted incident rate ratio of 1.16 (95% confidence interval: 1.10, 1.22) times the total number of annual claims and an adjusted incident rate ratio 1.32 (95% confidence interval 1.17, 1.48) times the total annual health care cost. Conclusions: HDV is associated with higher health care use and cost burden than HBV alone, underscoring the need for improved screening and treatment.