BCN HEALTH publishes a study evaluating the hospital incidence and medical costs of polycythemia vera in Spain

BCN HEALTH has published the study 'Hospital incidence and medical costs of polycythemia vera in Spain: a retrospective database analysis' in the journal 'Expert Review of Pharmacoeconomics & Outcomes Research, an international journal publishing rigorously peer-reviewed articles on several aspects of pharmacoeconomics.

BCN HEALTH conducted a retrospective study based on the records of patients hospitalized due to polycythemia vera and treated in Spanish public and private hospitals between January of 2005 and December of 2019. The objective of this study was to evaluate the incidence of the disease at the hospital level and to calculate the associated medical costs.

Data corresponding to 490 individual patients was analyzed. Patients' median age was 74 years, presenting numerous conditions associated to age, including hypertension and diabetes. Hospital mortality was associated to pulmonary heart disease, respiratory conditions and kidney disease. Hospital incidence decreased over the study period in patients over 60 years of age.

Median length of hospital stay was 7 days. Medical procedures were primarily diagnostic techniques. The transfusion of packed cells was registered in 26% of admissions, biopsies of the bone marrow were found in 15% of admissions and phlebotomies in 10% of admissions. The mean annual direct medical cost of hospital care was €5,580 per patient over the study period and length of hospital stay affected admission cost significantly.

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