Trends and patterns in Lyme disease: an analysis of private claims data
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Series Title(s):
- White paper (FAIR Health, Inc.)
- Contributor(s):
- FAIR Health, Inc., issuing body.
- Publication:
- New York, NY : FAIR Health, Inc., December 2019
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Lyme Disease -- epidemiology United States
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- Lyme disease is a growing public health issue. FAIR Health analyzed recent data from its repository of over 30 billion privately billed healthcare claims to identify trends and patterns related to Lyme disease and compare such trends and patterns to those in other tick-borne diseases. Among the findings: (1) Increase. Over about the last decade, Lyme disease increased nationally 117 percent, from 0.027 percent of all medical claim lines in 2007 to 0.058 percent in 2018. (2) Predominance. Claim lines for Lyme disease accounted for 94 percent of claim lines for tick-borne diseases in 2018. (3) Urban versus rural. Growth in Lyme disease claim lines from 2007 to 2018 was more pronounced in urban than rural areas. (4) Monthly distribution. In 2018, the months with the highest share of the distribution of claim lines for Lyme disease were June (10.7 percent) and July (11.0 percent). The months with the lowest share were December (6.2 percent) and February (6.5 percent). (5) Geographic spread. In 2007, the five states with the highest number of claim lines with Lyme disease diagnoses as a percentage of all medical claim lines by state were all in the Northeast, but in 2018, one (North Carolina) was in the South. (6) Age. In both rural and urban areas in 2018, individuals aged 51 to 60 held the largest share of the age distribution of claim lines with Lyme disease diagnoses. The age group 41-50 held the second largest share in both rural and urban areas. (7) Gender. In both rural and urban areas in 2018, more claim lines with Lyme disease diagnoses were submitted for females than males. (8) Age and gender. In 2018, more claim lines for Lyme disease were submitted for females than males in every age group from 11 to 70, but in the youngest and oldest segments (0-10 and over 70), more claim lines were submitted for males. (9) Places of service. The laboratory was the place of service with the largest share of Lyme disease claim lines in both 2014 and 2018. The office held the second largest share both years. (10) Procedures. By percent of patients, the most common procedure performed for patients with a Lyme disease diagnosis in 2018 was a 15-minute office or other outpatient visit for an established patient. Among the top five procedures by volume, the procedure that was performed the most times per Lyme disease patient was 45-minute psychotherapy. (11) Other diagnoses. In 2018, the 10 most common "other diagnoses" found in patients who had been diagnosed with Lyme disease were, in order from most to least common, general signs and symptoms, dorsopathies, soft tissue disorders, other joint disorders, disorders of the thyroid gland, anxiety and other nonpsychotic mental disorders, osteoarthritis, skin and subcutaneous tissue symptoms, dermatitis and eczema, and mood (affective) disorders. All were more common in patients with Lyme disease than in all patients.
- Copyright:
- Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY-NC-ND license. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (39 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 101774947 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101774947