BCN HEALTH publishes a study evaluating the incidence and medical costs associated to pneumococcal disease in Spain

BCN HEALTH has published the study ‘Hospital incidence, in-hospital mortality and medical costs of pneumococcal disease in Spain (2008-2017): a retrospective multicentre study’ in the journal ‘Current Medical Research & Opinion’, an international journal interested in publishing any research related to new treatments, public health research and epidemiology studies.

BCN HEALTH conducted a retrospective study based on the records of patients hospitalized due to pneumococcal disease and treated in Spanish public and private hospitals between January of 2008 and December of 2017. The objective of this study was to analyze the characteristics of the patients attended with a pneumococcal disease in Spanish hospitals, to evaluate trends in hospital incidence and in-hospital mortality and to quantify patients’ use of resources and medical costs.

The files obtained corresponded to 168,074 patients diagnosed with pneumococcal disease; mean age was 64 years. Pneumococcal pneumonia was responsible for 64% of all admissions, with a hospital incidence of 31 per 10,000 patients, decreasing over the study period. The incidence of meningitis also decreased over the study period, while the cases of bacteremia and pyogenic arthritis increased significantly. In-hospital mortality was 7% over the study period, and was significantly higher in patients with endocarditis (17%). 

The majority of hospital admissions were urgent, and mean length of stay was 11 days. The mean annual direct medical cost of secondary care was €5,676 per patient over the study period. The highest admission costs were registered in patients with endocarditis (€15,991) and meningitis (€11,934). Overall, pneumococcal disease represented an annual cost of 104.2 million euros. 

More information can be found at https://doi.org/10.1080/03007995.2021.1876007.