OBJECTIVES : The aim of this study was to describe patient characteristics, hospital incidence and mortality of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in Spain, and to evaluate the direct medical cost of the disease at the hospital level from the perspective of the National Spanish Healthcare System.

METHODS : Admission records of patients with AD treated in Spanish hospitals between 2011 and 2016 were selected from a hospital discharge database based on the corresponding International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 9th version (ICD-9) and 10th version (ICD-10) codes. Hospital incidence was defined as the annual rate of AD related admissions by the total number of hospital admissions and in-hospital mortality referred to the annual number of hospital deaths by the total number of patients admitted with AD. Admission cost is assigned in the database according to the standardized average expenses of admissions and medical procedures determined by the Spanish Ministry of Health.

RESULTS : Records of 7,894 individual patients diagnosed with AD were analyzed; 62.0% of the patients were females with a mean age of 80.4 years (95%CI=80.1-80.5; CI: confidence interval). Hospital incidence was 3.7 per 10,000 persons over the study period, 2.9 and 4.4 for males and females, respectively. In-hospital mortality was 9.5%; both hospital incidence and mortality increased over the study period. Mortality was principally associated with acute respiratory failure, other respiratory conditions and heart failure. The 81.8% of the admissions registered were urgent and mean length of hospital stay was 10.5 days (95%CI=10.1-10.9). Annual medical costs increased slightly during the study period, with a mean annual cost per patient of €4,969.

CONCLUSIONS : This study provides evidence of the increasing burden that AD represents for hospital settings, both in terms of hospitalization number and medical costs, highlighting the importance of early detection and the optimization of care.