BCN HEALTH presents three communications at the ISPOR Europe congress in Vienna from 6 to 9 November

BCN HEALTH presents the poster "Hospital care and medical costs of septic arthritis in Spain: a retrospective multicentre analysis" on a retrospective study that included records of septic arthritis patients admitted to hospitals in Spain between 2010 and 2019. The objectives of the study were to review the characteristics of patients admitted with septic arthritis in Spanish hospitals and to measure the associated direct medical costs from the perspective of the National Health System. This study included 16,438 patients, 62.8% of whom were males with an average age of 56 years. The knee was the most involved joint, registered in 49% of the cases. The most frequently registered pathogen was Staphylococcus, and 2.7% of admissions registered an antibiotic resistant infection. This study provides new data on the medical costs of septic arthritis in Spain, providing a basis for the revision of resource allocation decisions to reduce the burden of this condition at the healthcare system level. 

The poster "Hospital care of endometriosis in Spain: a retrospective multicentre analysis of patient characteristics and costs" shows the results of the analysis of 41,118 records of patients with endometriosis in Spain extracted from a database containing records from 192 private and 313 public centres from 1997 to 2019. The aim of this study was to evaluate the characteristics of patients diagnosed with endometriosis, to measure incidence within the hospital setting and the associated medical costs of patients with endometriosis in Spain between 2009 and 2018. The median age was 37 years and has increased significantly over the study period. Data corresponded primarily to inpatient and programmed admissions, mainly associated to surgical procedures, with a median length of stay of 3 days. The results of the study highlight that older patients, surgical procedures and lengthier admissions were associated with higher medical costs. 

Finally, the poster "Hospital incidence and medical costs of polycythemia vera in Spain: a retrospective database analysis" summarises the results obtained after analysing data on patients diagnosed with polycythemia vera in Spain between 2005 and 2019. The data were obtained from a database of the Ministry of Health. This study aimed to the hospital incidence and mortality rate of polycythemia vera in Spain, and to estimate hospital medical costs. The study included 490 patients, with a median age of 74 years. Hospital mortality rate was 13.2% over the study period and it was associated to pulmonary heart disease, respiratory conditions, and kidney disease. Admission cost increased significantly between 2006 and 2011 in patients over 60 years of age, however, it decreased in patients aged 60 years and younger. This study provides an evaluation of hospital management and costs of polycythemia vera in Spain. Future studies should focus on the revision of disease management in the country and measuring total medical costs, which could be higher than global estimations.