Unplanned admissions for patients with myeloma in the UK: Low frequency but high costs

Abstract

Background: Multiple myeloma (MM) is associated with high healthcare resource utilisation and increasing hospitalisation rates. The aim of this study was to characterise the hospital use by patients with MM in the English National Health Service (NHS). Methods: Routinely-collected aggregate data about all NHS-funded hospital admissions of patients with MM were analysed. Data were obtained from the English Hospital Episodes Statistics on admissions between 1 April 2014 and 31 March 2018. Results: A total of 754,345 admissions were reported over four years, equivalent to a mean of 188,586 admissions per year. Of the 41,845 patients admitted during this period, 42% were women and 58% men. From the total admissions, 90% were elective and 10% unplanned. Mean annual estimated costs over the period were £46 million for elective and £56 million for unplanned admissions. The number of elective admissions increased by 4.5% with costs increasing 1.5% per year; for unplanned admissions, these figures were 4.1% and 9.0%, respectively. Conclusions: MM is associated with a significant number of hospital admissions and NHS costs. The majority of the hospital admissions are elective, but the highest burden in terms of costs relates to unplanned admissions, with numbers increasing over time. Keywords: Multiple myeloma, Unplanned admissions, Elective admissions, Costs