Hospital incidence and costs of congenital hydrocephalus in Spain: a multicenter retrospective study

ABSTRACT

Congenital hydrocephalus continues to represent a therapeutic challenge; however, few studies are available evaluating its hospital incidence and medical costs in Spain. This study aimed to review the profile of patients with this disorder admitted in Spanish hospitals and to estimate medical costs at the hospital level.

Methods

Records of hospital admissions of patients with congenital hydrocephalus between 2010 and 2019 were obtained from a Spanish hospital discharge database and analyzed in a retrospective multicenter study.

Results

A third of the patients included in the study were perinatal patients, however, the hospitalization rate in this group was higher to that in patients over 1 year of age. Perinatal patients required more ICU admissions and longer hospital stays, with more frequent surgical interventions and mechanical ventilation. The mean medical cost associated to congenital hydrocephalus was €9610 per admission, with significantly higher costs found in perinatal patients.

Conclusions

This study provides novel data on the hospital costs of congenital hydrocephalus in Spain. The hospital medical costs of this disorder have decreased over the past decade for perinatal patients but not in those aged 1 year and older, which should be considered in upcoming healthcare plans and resource allocation decisions.

KEYWORDS:

• Congenital hydrocephalus
• cost analysis
• direct medical costs
• Spain

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Author contributions

J Darbà contributed to the investigation by analyzing and interpreting the burden associated to congenital hydrocephalus in Spain and was a major contribution in the intellectual content revision. A Marsà analyzed the current situation of congenital hydrocephalus in Spain, interpreted the statistical data and was a major contributor in writing the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript to be published.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Ethics committee approval and consent were not required for this study.

Data availability statement

Data sharing is restricted due to legal stipulations, yet the data that support the findings of this study is fully available from the Spanish Ministry of Health via the Unit of Health Care Information and Statistics (Spanish Institute of Health Information) for researchers who meet the criteria for access to confidential data at: https://www.mscbs.gob.es/estadEstudios/sanidadDatos/home.htm.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.