Fall-related healthcare use and costs in neurogenic orthostatic hypotension with Parkinson's disease.

AIMS

To compare patient characteristics, rates, and costs of medically attended falls among patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and probable PD plus neurogenic orthostatic hypotension (PD + nOH).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

MarketScan Commercial and Medicare Supplemental databases (January 1, 2009-December 31, 2013) were used to identify PD and probable PD + nOH patients. The first medical or prescription claim suggesting these diagnoses served as the index date. Baseline characteristics and post-index all-cause and fall-related healthcare utilization and costs were compared between patient groups.

RESULTS

A total of 17,421 PD and 281 PD + nOH patients were identified. Compared with PD patients, PD + nOH patients were older (77 vs 74 years; p < .0001) and had more comorbidities. Pre- and post-index date, more PD + nOH patients had a medically attended fall than PD patients (25% vs 20% [p = .0159] and 30% vs 21% [p = 0.0002], respectively). Fallers in both groups had similar numbers of medically attended falls 12-months pre-index (mean =1.9), but PD + nOH fallers had more falls post-index (2.5 vs 2.0; p = .0176). Compared with PD patients, more PD + nOH patients (all p < .01) had fall-related emergency department (ED) visits (18% vs 10%), hospitalizations (7% vs 3%), and non-office visit outpatient services (15% vs 10%). Adjusted total post-index medical costs for falls ($2,260 vs $1,049; p = .0002) and total all-cause costs ($31,260 vs $20,910; p < .0001) were higher for PD + nOH vs PD patients.

LIMITATIONS

This study had some limitations. There is no ICD-9-CM diagnosis code for nOH, so a combination of PD and OH diagnoses (with confounding conditions excluded) served as a proxy for an nOH diagnosis. Also, the rate of falls and associated costs in these cohorts might be under-reported because only medically attended falls were evaluated.

CONCLUSIONS

PD + nOH patients had a higher prevalence of pre-existing comorbidities and a higher rate of medically attended falls than those with PD alone, leading to increased costs of care.