{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,15]],"date-time":"2025-08-15T00:10:57Z","timestamp":1755216657056,"version":"3.43.0"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"The Journal of Health Economics and Outcomes Research","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,4,13]],"date-time":"2023-04-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1681344000000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["jheor.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":[],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"background\"> <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title> <jats:p>Research on employee care partners of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) is limited.<\/jats:p> <\/jats:sec> <jats:sec id=\"objectives\"> <jats:title>Objectives<\/jats:title> <jats:p>The clinical and economic impact on employee care partners was evaluated by MS disease severity.<\/jats:p> <\/jats:sec> <jats:sec id=\"methods\"> <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title> <jats:p>Employees with spouses\/domestic partners with MS from the Workpartners database (Jan.\u00a01, 2010\u2013Dec.\u00a031, 2019) were eligible if: spouse\/partner had at least 3 MS-related (ICD-9-CM\/ICD-10-CM:340.xx\/G35) inpatient\/outpatient\/disease-modifying therapy claims within 1 year (latest claim = index date); 6-month pre-index\/1-year post-index enrollment; and age 18 to 64 years. Employee care partners\u2019 demographic\/clinical characteristics and direct\/indirect costs were compared across predetermined MS severity categories. Logistic and generalized linear regression modeled the costs.<\/jats:p> <\/jats:sec> <jats:sec id=\"results\"> <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title> <jats:p>Among 1041 employee care partners of patients with MS, 358 (34.4%) patients had mild MS, 491 (47.2%) moderate, and 192 (18.4%) severe. Mean (standard error [SE]) employee care partner age was 49.0 (0.5) for patients with mild disease, 50.5 (0.4) for moderate, 51.7 (0.6) for severe; percent female care partners was 24.6% [2.3%] mild, 19.8% [1.8%] moderate, 27.6% [3.2%] severe; and mean care partner Charlson Comorbidity Index scores 0.28 (0.05) mild, 0.30 (0.04) moderate, 0.27 (0.06) severe. More care partners of patients with moderate\/severe vs mild MS had hyperlipidemia (32.6%\/31.8% vs 21.2%), hypertension (29.5%\/29.7% vs 19.3%), gastrointestinal disease (20.8%\/22.9% vs 13.1%), depression (9.2%\/10.9% vs 3.9%), and anxiety 10.6%\/8.9% vs 4.2%). Adjusted mean medical costs were greater for employee care partners of patients with moderate vs mild\/severe disease (<jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>&lt;.001). Pharmacy costs (SE) were lower for employee care partners of mild vs severe\/moderate patients (<jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>&lt;.005). Sick leave costs (SE) were greater for employee care partners of mild\/severe vs moderate patients (<jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>&lt;.05).<\/jats:p> <\/jats:sec> <jats:sec id=\"discussion\"> <jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title> <jats:p>Employee care partners of patients with moderate\/severe vs mild MS had more comorbidities (ie, hypertension, gastrointestinal disease, depression, and anxiety) and higher pharmacy costs. Employee care partners of patients with moderate vs mild\/severe MS had higher medical and lower sick leave costs. Treatment strategies that improve patient outcomes may reduce employee care partner burden and lower costs for employers in some instances.<\/jats:p> <\/jats:sec> <jats:sec id=\"conclusions\"> <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title> <jats:p>Comorbidities and direct\/indirect costs of employees whose spouses\/partners have MS were considerable and varied with MS severity.<\/jats:p> <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.36469\/001c.57593","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,4,13]],"date-time":"2023-04-13T13:39:26Z","timestamp":1681393166000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.36469\/00001","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["The Clinical and Economic Impact of Employees Who Are Care Partners of Patients with Multiple Sclerosis by Disease Severity"],"prefix":"10.36469","volume":"10","author":[{"given":"Barry","family":"Hendin","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Arizona, Tucson"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Richard A.","family":"Brook","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Better Health Worldwide, Inc, Newfoundland, New Jersey"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ian A.","family":"Beren","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Workpartners LLC, Cheyenne, Wyoming"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Nathan","family":"Kleinman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Workpartners LLC, Cheyenne, Wyoming"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Cindy","family":"Fink","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Care Partner Advisor"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Amy L.","family":"Phillips","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"EMD Serono, Rockland, Massachusetts"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Carroline","family":"Lobo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"EMD Serono, Rockland, Massachusetts"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"22273","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,4,13]]},"reference":[{"issue":"10","key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1097","DOI":"10.1136\/jnnp.2006.104216","article-title":"Caregiver burden in multiple sclerosis: the impact of neuropsychiatric symptoms","volume":"78","author":"N. 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