Evaluation of the economic burden of kidney stone disease in the UK: a retrospective cohort study with a mean follow‐up of 19 years

• Published in: BJU international Vol. 125; no. 4; pp. 586 - 594
• Main Authors: Geraghty, Robert M., Cook, Paul, Walker, Valerie, Somani, Bhaskar K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01-04-2020
• Subjects: Bladder cancer; Calculi; Cohort analysis; cost; Costs; follow‐up; kidney stone; Kidney stones; Kidneys; Nephrolithiasis; obesity; Prostate cancer; Tariffs; treatment; urolithiasis; United Kingdom > UK; England; urolithiasis; follow-up; treatment; cost; kidney stone; obesity
• ISSN: 1464-4096; 1464-410X
• DOI: 10.1111/bju.14991

Objective
To estimate the cost of kidney stone disease (KSD) in England.
Patients and Methods
We conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients with KSD, referred to a metabolic stone clinic between 1990 and 2007 using electronic records of patients with KSD in a tertiary referral centre, to determine cost using UK National Health Service (NHS) tariff, with subsequent extrapolation to the entire England population. Those with no documentation and <5 years follow‐up were excluded. The outcome measure was calculation of cost (as per 2018 NHS tariff) presented as lower and higher estimates for: per episode; total within the cohort; and estimation of initial, 5‐,10‐ and 15‐year costs for the cohort and total population in England. Linear regression was used to examine for significant predictors of per episode and total cost.
Results
A total of 781 patients were included in the study after 1000 records were screened for inclusion, with a mean follow‐up of 19 years. The mean (SD) overall costs per episode were between £1277 (1724) and £2887 (2492). Total initial costs for the cohort were between £950 842 and £2 336 442, rising to between £1.43 million and £3.02 million at 15 years of follow‐up. Estimated cost in 2010 in England alone was between £190 million and £324 million.
Conclusion
KSD is a costly disease, comparable to the combined cost of prostate and bladder cancer in UK.