Department of Urology, Fundació Puigvert, Barcelona, Cartagena, Spain.
Department of Urology, Complexo Hospitalario Universitario de Ourense, Ourense, Spain.
Neurourol Urodyn. 2018 Jan;37(1):307-315. doi: 10.1002/nau.23293. Epub 2017 May 2.
To assess the relationship between storage-predominant LUTS and healthcare resource consumption and cost among males in Spain.
In this non-interventional, cross-sectional study, urologists enrolled males with storage-predominant LUTS and recorded the consumption of healthcare resources (medical visits, diagnostic tests/monitoring, treatment, and hospitalizations) within the previous 6 months. The cost of healthcare resources was calculated from unit costs extracted from a Spanish eHealth database. Severity of LUTS was assessed by the Bladder Self-Assessment Questionnaire (BSAQ) and patients were stratified by symptom score (<6 or ≥6) to assess the relationship between LUTS severity and healthcare resource consumption and cost.
Among 610 enrolled patients (BSAQ symptom score <6, n = 191; BSAQ symptom score ≥6, n = 419), the majority (87.7%) consumed healthcare resources during the previous 6 months in the form of medical visits (86.2%), diagnostic tests/monitoring (83.4%), and treatment (85.9%). Patients with BSAQ symptom scores ≥6 used more healthcare resources compared with patients with BSAQ symptom scores <6. The most common treatments for LUTS were α-blockers used as monotherapy (n = 229 [37.5%]) or in combination with antimuscarinics (n = 227 [37.2%]). The estimated median annual cost was €1070 per patient, consisting of diagnostic tests/monitoring (54.6%), medical visits (20.5%), and treatment (29.6%), and was higher in patients with BSAQ symptom score ≥6 (€1127) than in patients with BSAQ symptom score <6 (€920; P < 0.001).
More severe LUTS are associated with higher healthcare consumption and cost. These findings highlight the importance of symptom management in LUTS patients to help minimize healthcare consumption and cost.
评估西班牙男性中以储存为主的下尿路症状与医疗资源消耗和成本之间的关系。
在这项非干预性、横断面研究中，泌尿科医生招募了以储存为主的下尿路症状男性患者，并记录了他们在过去 6 个月内医疗资源的消耗情况（就诊次数、诊断性检查/监测、治疗和住院治疗）。医疗资源的成本是根据从西班牙电子健康数据库中提取的单位成本计算的。采用膀胱自我评估问卷（BSAQ）评估下尿路症状的严重程度，根据症状评分（<6 或≥6）对患者进行分层，以评估下尿路症状严重程度与医疗资源消耗和成本之间的关系。
在 610 名入组患者中（BSAQ 症状评分<6，n=191；BSAQ 症状评分≥6，n=419），大多数患者（87.7%）在过去 6 个月内以就诊（86.2%）、诊断性检查/监测（83.4%）和治疗（85.9%）的形式消耗了医疗资源。BSAQ 症状评分≥6 的患者比 BSAQ 症状评分<6 的患者使用了更多的医疗资源。治疗下尿路症状最常用的药物是α受体阻滞剂，单独使用（n=229 [37.5%]）或与抗胆碱能药物联合使用（n=227 [37.2%]）。估计每位患者的年平均费用为 1070 欧元，包括诊断性检查/监测（54.6%）、就诊次数（20.5%）和治疗（29.6%），BSAQ 症状评分≥6 的患者费用更高（€1127），而 BSAQ 症状评分<6 的患者费用更低（€920；P<0.001）。
更严重的下尿路症状与更高的医疗保健消耗和成本相关。这些发现强调了在管理下尿路症状患者时重视症状管理的重要性，以帮助尽量减少医疗保健的消耗和成本。
