TY - BOOK AU - Wood, James E TI - A Fresh Perspective on a Familiar Problem: Examining Disparities in Knee Osteoarthritis Using a Markov Model SN - 0025-7079 PY - 2017/// KW - *Arthroplasty, Replacement, Knee/ec [Economics] KW - *Healthcare Disparities/ec [Economics] KW - *Models, Economic KW - *Osteoarthritis, Knee/ec [Economics] KW - Arthroplasty, Replacement, Knee/sn [Statistics & Numerical Data] KW - Cost-Benefit Analysis KW - Female KW - Health Care Costs KW - Health Services Needs and Demand/ec [Economics] KW - Health Status Disparities KW - Humans KW - Male KW - Osteoarthritis, Knee/ep [Epidemiology] KW - United States KW - MedStar Harbor Hospital KW - Journal Article N1 - Available online from MWHC library: 1996 - present N2 - BACKGROUND: Disparities in the presentation of knee osteoarthritis (OA) and in the utilization of treatment across sex, racial, and ethnic groups in the United States are well documented; CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that disparities in treatment of knee OA are costly. All stakeholders involved in treatment decisions for knee OA patients should consider costs associated with delaying and forgoing treatment, especially for disadvantaged populations. Such decisions may lead to higher costs and worse health outcomes.This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives License 4.0 (CCBY-NC-ND), where it is permissible to download and share the work provided it is properly cited. The work cannot be changed in any way or used commercially without permission from the journal. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0; OBJECTIVES: We used a Markov model to calculate lifetime costs of knee OA treatment. We then used the model results to compute costs of disparities in treatment by race, ethnicity, sex, and socioeconomic status; RESEARCH DESIGN: We used the literature to construct a Markov Model of knee OA and publicly available data to create the model parameters and patient populations of interest. An expert panel of physicians, who treated a large number of patients with knee OA, constructed treatment pathways. Direct costs were based on the literature and indirect costs were derived from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey; RESULTS: We found that failing to obtain effective treatment increased costs and limited benefits for all groups. Delaying treatment imposed a greater cost across all groups and decreased benefits. Lost income because of lower labor market productivity comprised a substantial proportion of the lifetime costs of knee OA. Population simulations demonstrated that as the diversity of the US population increases, the societal costs of racial and ethnic disparities in treatment utilization for knee OA will increase UR - https://dx.doi.org/10.1097/MLR.0000000000000816 ER -