BCN HEALTH has published 10 studies in 2024 evaluating the incidence, productivity loss, and disease costs for different disease in Spain

BCN HEALTH conducted retrospective studies based on records of patients diagnosed with different diseases and treated in public and private hospitals in Spain between 2011 and 2022.  These studies have been published in peer-reviewed international journals. The journals that have published our studies include the European Journal of Health Economics, Journal of Medical Economics, PLOS ONE, and Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases.The main objective was to evaluate the incidence of disease at the hospital level and the associated costs. Data were extracted from the Spanish Ministry of Health's records through a database containing patient records from 192 private hospitals and 313 public hospitals covering all regions of Spain. Direct medical costs at the hospital level were calculated using the average costs of medical procedures determined by the Spanish Ministry of Health.

The following variables were extracted from the database: patients' sex and age, admission date, discharge date, type of admission, type of discharge (including death), hospital service, readmission rate (understood as a subsequent admission for the same cause within 30 days after discharge), reason for admission, up to 20 secondary diagnoses recorded during admission, up to 14 procedures recorded during admission, and the imputed cost of hospitalization.

Other studies analysed costs due to productivity losses associated with premature mortality from different diseases in Spain between 2013 and 2022. This analysis was based on the human capital approach, which estimates the indirect costs that disease imposes on individuals, families, society, or employers by calculating the income and productivity lost due to premature death. For this purpose, mortality and salary data were extracted from the Spanish National Institute of Statistics. The costs of premature mortality were estimated using age- and sex-specific annual wages, from the age of death until retirement age.

Some of the diseases evaluated included: prostate cancer, lupus, gastric cancer, and leukaemia.

These studies have provided new data to assist decision-makers in resource allocation and have offered insights into the disease burden on the Spanish National Health System, identifying the main cost drivers.