Burden of illness among intermittent catheter users with non-neurogenic urinary retention in Denmark

ABSTRACT

Background

Urinary retention (UR) caused by non-neurogenic conditions is a frequent disorder often requiring the use of intermittent catheterization (IC). This study examines the burden of illness among subjects with an IC indication due to non-neurogenic UR.

Methods

Health-care utilization and costs were extracted from Danish registers (2002–2016) related to the first year after IC training and compared to matched controls.

Results

A total of 4,758 subjects with UR due to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and 3,618 subjects with UR due to other non-neurological conditions were identified. Total health-care utilization and costs per patient-year were significantly higher compared to matched controls (BPH: 12,406 EUR vs 4,363, p < 0.000; other non-neurogenic causes: 12,497 EUR vs 3,920, p < 0.000) and driven mainly by hospitalizations. Urinary tract infections (UTIs) were the most frequent bladder complications often requiring hospitalization. The inpatient costs per patient-year for UTIs were significantly higher for cases than controls (BPH: 479 EUR vs 31, p < 0.000; other non-neurogenic causes: 434 EUR vs 25, p < 0.000).

Conclusions

The burden of illness caused by non-neurogenic UR with need for IC was high and essentially driven by hospitalizations. Further research should clarify if additional treatment measures may reduce the burden of illness in subjects suffering from non-neurogenic UR using IC.

KEYWORDS:

• Benign prostatic hyperplasia
• cost of illness
• health-care costs
• intermittent catheter
• non-neurogenic bladder dysfunction
• societal costs
• urinary retention
• urinary tract infection

Acknowledgments

Writing support was provided by Malene Bagger, MSc, PhD, employed by M Bagger Scientific Writing, which is an independent medical writing agency. The writing support was funded by Coloplast.

Declaration of interest

M Lynge Buchter is an employee of Coloplast A/S, Denmark. J Kjellberg is employed by VIVE, the Danish Center for Social Science Research, Denmark, an independent research and analysis centre. VIVE received funding from Coloplast for the contribution to this study. R Ibsen is an employee of i2Minds, an independent data analysis agency, which received funding from VIVE to this study. C Sternhufvud is an employee of Coloplast AB, Sweden. B Petersen is employed by MedDevHealth, Denmark, an independent consultancy, and received funding from Coloplast for the contribution to the study. The authors have no other 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 apart from those disclosed.

Reviewer disclosures

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

Author contributions

M Lynge Buchter and C Sternhufvud were involved in study design, interpretation and discussion of results, appropriate presentation of results, and revising the manuscript. J Kjellberg and R Ibsen contributed to study design, data collection and the processing and statistical handling of the data to generate the results, verified the underlying data and validated results, as well as editorial support. B Petersen provided clinical input, was involved in study design, interpretation and discussion of results, presentation of results, and revising the manuscript. All authors read the final version of the manuscript critically and approved the final version to be published.

Compliance with ethics guidelines

Under Danish law, no ethics approval is required for register‐based studies.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/14737167.2023.2181793

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by Coloplast.