To estimate direct and indirect economic costs among private-sector employees with osteoarthritis (OA).
Using a large US employer benefits database, we identified all employees with evidence of OA during calendar year 2007, and compared their costs of health care and work loss to age-and-sex-matched employees without evidence of OA in that year.
Private-sector employees with OA (n = 2399) averaged 62.9 days of absenteeism versus 36.7 days among matched comparators (n = 2399) (P < 0.01). Mean total direct costs among these persons were $17,751 and $5057, respectively (P < 0.01); 34% of health care costs among persons with OA arose from medical encounters with listed diagnoses of OA. Mean total indirect costs were two-fold higher among persons with OA ($5002 versus $2120 for those without OA; P < 0.01).
Private-sector employees with OA have higher direct and indirect costs than those without this condition.