• Jason Shafrin, Howard H Z Thom, Edna Keeney, Daisy M Gaunt, Lauren M Zhao, Menaka Bhor, Avery A Rizio, Lanetta Bronté-Hall, and Nirmish Shah.
• PRECISIONheor, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
• Curr Med Res Opin. 2021 May 1; 37 (5): 761-768.

AimSickle cell disease (SCD) is a lifelong blood disorder affecting approximately 100,000 individuals in the United States (US). A number of new treatments have recently become available to improve SCD clinical outcomes, but it is unclear how treatment innovations that reduce disease severity could affect patients' humanistic and economic outcomes.Methods And MaterialsTo answer this question, an online survey of US adult residents with a self-reported SCD diagnosis was conducted. Humanistic outcomes based on health-related quality of life (HRQoL)) were assessed during and outside of vaso-occlusive crises (VOCs). Economic outcomes were measured by annual household income and whether the respondent received disability insurance.ResultsAmong the 301 respondents completing the survey, average age was 34.4 years and 73.4% were female. Average HRQoL, measured using health utilities, were 0.311 (95% CI: 0.286, 0.337) during a VOC and 0.738 (0.720, 0.756) not during a VOC. The likelihood of claiming disability insurance was correlated with more frequent VOCs (0 VOCs: 12% vs. ≥4 VOCs: 47%, p = .002) and disease severity (Severity Class II: 16% vs. Severity Class III: 39%, p = .03). There was a weak relationship between VOC frequency and household income (0 VOCs: $47,488 vs. ≥4 VOCs: $34,569, p = .06) and no evidence of a relationship between disease severity class and income (Severity Class II: $42,443 vs. Severity Class III: $36,842, p = .29).ConclusionIn conclusion, disease severity, strongly predicted worse self-reported HRQoL, moderately predicted increased likelihood of collecting disability insurance, and weakly predicted lower household income levels.

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