Purpose: The incidence of urolithiasis is increasing in children and adolescents but the economic impact of this problem is unclear. We examined 2 large databases to estimate the nationwide economic impact of pediatric urolithiasis.
Materials and methods: We analyzed the 2009 NEDS and KID, used ICD-9-CM codes to identify children 18 years or younger diagnosed with urolithiasis and abstracted demographic and charge data from each database.
Results: We identified 7,348 weighted inpatient discharges in KID and 33,038 emergency department weighted encounters in NEDS. Of the patients 32% and 36% were male, respectively. Inpatients were younger than those who presented to the ED (mean age 13.9 vs 15.7 years). Most patients had private insurance (52.9% to 57.2%) and the South was the most common geographic region (39.5% to 44.4%). The most common procedures were ureteral stent placement in 20.4% to 24.1% of cases, followed by ureteroscopy in 3.8% to 4.4%. Median charges per admission were $13,922 for a weighted total of $229 million per year. Median emergency department charges were $3,991 per encounter for a weighted total of $146 million per year.
Conclusions: Each day in 2009 in the United States an estimated 20 children were hospitalized and 91 were treated in the emergency department for upper tract stones. A conservative estimate of 2009 annual charges related to pediatric urolithiasis in the United States is at least $375 million. This is likely a significant underestimate of the true economic burden of pediatric urolithiasis because it accounts for neither outpatient management nor indirect costs such as caregiver time away from work.
Keywords: costs and cost analysis; hospitalization; kidney; ureter; urolithiasis.
Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Inc.