Hospital incidence and medical costs of polycythemia vera in Spain: a retrospective database analysis

ABSTRACT

Background

Polycythemia vera (PV) is one of the most common chronic myeloproliferative neoplasms, yet, little data is available on the epidemiology of PV in Spain and the costs of its management. This study aimed to evaluate the hospital incidence and mortality rate of PV in Spain, and to estimate hospital medical costs.

Methods

Hospital admission records of patients with PV registered between 2005 and 2019 were obtained from a Spanish hospital discharge database and analyzed in a retrospective multicenter study.

Results

Admission files of 490 patients were reviewed. Median age was 74 years; patients presented numerous conditions associated to age, namely hypertension, diabetes or anemia. Hospital mortality rate was associated to pulmonary heart disease, respiratory conditions and kidney disease. Most of the files analyzed corresponded to inpatient admissions; hospital incidence decreased over the study period in patients over 60 years. Median admission cost was €5580, increasing in patients deceased during the hospitalization. Admission cost increased significantly between 2006 and 2011.

Conclusions

This study provides an evaluation of hospital management and costs of PV 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.

KEYWORDS:

• Polycythemia vera
• blood cancer
• hospital incidence
• hospital mortality
• medical costs
• Spain

Author contributions

J Darbà contributed to the investigation by analyzing and interpreting the burden associated to polycythemia vera in Spain and was a major contribution in the intellectual content revision. A Marsà analyzed the current situation of polycythemia vera 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.

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.

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.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

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

Reviewer disclosures

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