gms | German Medical Science

Objectives: Costs of osteoporotic fractures are known to be a high burden for health care systems. Currently, there is only limited data on the cost of major osteoporotic fracture (MOF) care in Germany. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze the costs attributable to major osteoporotic fractures in Germany.

Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of German claims data on MOFs for the years 2014 to 2017. The database, owned by Gesundheitsforen Leipzig GmbH, consists of nationwide statutory health insurance data. Costs were analyzed for the first and second dynamic year after an index MOF based on MOF for the ICD-10 codes S22 (rib, sternum and thoracic fractures), S32 (lumbar spine and pelvis fractures), S42 (shoulder and upper arm fractures), S52 (forearm fractures) and S72 (femoral fracture).

Results and Conclusion: In this analysis, a total of 78.087 patients with an index MOF (S22, S32, S42, S52, S72) were included. In the first year, highest costs were seen for S72 coded fractures of the femur with mean overall costs of 16.812,83 EUR per patient, of which 11.965,60 EUR accounted for inpatient treatments. Second highest costs resulted from patients suffering from an index S32 coded fracture (11.932,57 EUR), followed by S22 coded fracture (9.389,63 EUR). Mean medication costs for all patients with an index MOF were between 712,45 EUR (S52) and 2.099,97 EUR (S32) in the first year after fracture.

Within two years, mean medication costs of 3,088.74 EUR (S22), 3.721,78 EUR (S32), 1.803,43 EUR (S42), 1.310,44 EUR (S52) and 3.443,50 EUR (S72) occurred per patient for the different MOF types, respectively.

Conclusion: Costs for MOF indicate broad variations dependent on the fracture position. 73% of the two-year patient costs were incurred in the first year after MOF.

Acknowledgements: This study was funded by Amgen and UCB Pharma. Luis Möckel is a former employee of UCB Pharma.

Table 1 [Tab. 1]