OBJECTIVES:  There have been few studies on the expenditure of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) in China. The aim of this study was to investigate direct cost of inpatients with PD in various medical institutions in Shanghai. METHODS: This study was conducted using data from the Shanghai Discharged Patients Medical Record Information Platform. The records of 2926 patients with PD who have been discharged from all professional medical institutions in 2015 were examined. RESULTS:  The hospitalized patients with PD were from third-grade hospitals(893), second-grade hospitals(1020), private hospitals(368), community health centers(272) and nursing homes(373). The average expenditure of all cases was RMB 27083. The average cost of patients in above-mentioned institutions were respectively RMB 37275,25782,21681,14712 and 20587. Medical consumables cost largest (45.25%) in the third-grade hospitals, while only cost less than 1.50% in other institutions. The largest part accounting for the expenses in the nursing homes, second-grade hospitals and community health centers were comprehensive medical services (including general medical services and nursing services, et al), which respectively accounted for 54.55%, 48.97% and 40.53%. The fee of drugs, not including Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM), was more than 19.5% in each institution. The ratio of TCM expenditure in the community health centers was largest (13.29%), while the ratios in others were less than 6%. In private hospitals, the largest part of the expenditure was treatment (21.00%). CONCLUSIONS:  PD causes significant expense for the health care system. The disparities of medical expenditure of PD in different institutions exists, illustrating the challenges for reducing the economic burden of this section of the society. This argues for more research to evaluate the rationality of some expenditure among patients in various institutions.