OBJECTIVES: Nontuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease (NTMPD) is a debilitating rare disease affecting a growing number of individuals worldwide. We evaluated hospitalizations related to NTMPD in France and assessed patient characteristics and the inpatients costs.

METHODS: The study was performed using the 2014 French National Database on hospital care (PMSI) which covers all hospital stays in the French population. NTMPD were identified using ICD10 code A310 (Pulmonary mycobacterial infection). Patients with cystic fibrosis (E84) were excluded. Directs costs were estimated if NTMPD was the primary diagnosis of the stays using the French National Costs study (2013 values).

RESULTS: Overall, in 2014, 1193 stays (main diagnosis n=577) for NTMPD were identified in the database corresponding to 802 patients. 72.57% of patients were hospitalized once in the year for NTMPD (mean of 1.5 stays per patient), 50.0% were male and aged 63.3 years on average (SD 18.4). Comorbidities associated with NTMPD were mainly: infectious pneumonia (36%), COPD/asthma (29%), bronchiectasis (23%), tobacco (13%), tuberculosis (13%) and AIDS (9%). 84.5% of stays (n=1,008) had at least one associated comorbidity). The mean length of stay was 10.9 (SD 19.6) days for stays with at least one associated comorbidity vs 6.9 days (SD 8.7) (p=0.0047) without comorbidities. The mean cumulated duration of hospitalization per patient per year was 12.5 days when associated with comorbidities vs 7.1 days without comorbidities (p<0.0001) The percentage of deaths during hospitalization was 3.8% for stays with at least one associated comorbidity vs 1.6% without comorbidities (p=0.0971). The mean cost was 4,896€ (SD 4,323) for stays with at least one associated comorbidity vs 3,335€ (SD 2,840) without comorbidities (p<0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS: The majority of hospitalized NTMPD patients had at least one associated comorbidity. NTMPD patients had long hospital stays and the presence of associated comorbidities increased the length of stay, costs and death rate.