OBJECTIVES

Hypoparathyroidism is an orphan disease which is characterized by low calcium and parathyroid hormone levels. Secondary hypoparathyroidism often occurs after surgery on the thyroids, whereas primary hypoparathyroidism occurs primarily due to genetic causes. Treatment generally consists of the application of activated vitamin D analogues or calcium supplementation.

The aim of this study was to characterize newly diagnosed (ND) and on treatment (OT) severe hypoparathyroidism patients by demographics and health-relevant outcomes in Germany.

METHODS

This study was a retrospective claims data analysis using (2011-2015) data from the InGef research database. Patients with severe hypoparathyroidism were identified by an ICD-10-GM diagnosis of hypoparathyroidism (E20.-) and at least one interval of either high dose calcium or vitamin D in combination with at least two prescriptions of the other medication, respectively. Outcomes were assessed in a two-year period and included demographic characteristics, hospitalizations, outpatient visits and pharmaceutical prescriptions.

RESULTS

In total, 110 identified individuals with severe hypoparathyroidism were OT and 21 patients were ND in 2013. The average age in the OT and ND cohort was 61.8 and 65.9 years with a majority of female patients with 79% and 71% respectively. Both, the average number of hospitalizations and length of hospital stay were higher for the ND cohort with an average of 2.90 inpatient stays and 13.29 days compared to 1.61 stays and 9.05 days in the OT cohort. The proportion of patients with an outpatient visit to an endocrinologist was relatively low with <20% in both cohorts, while more than 80% of patients had a visit to a general practitioner.

CONCLUSIONS

Extrapolating the results, a total of 2,740 severe chronic hypoparathyroidism patients were estimated for Germany for the year 2013. ND patients showed a higher resource utilization specifically regarding hospital admissions. A notably small proportion of patients visited an endocrinologist in the two year time period.