Fall-related healthcare use and costs in neurogenic orthostatic hypotension with Parkinson's disease.

AIMS: To compare patient characteristics, rates, and costs of medically attended falls among patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and probable PD plus neurogenic orthostatic hypotension (PD + nOH).

MATERIALS AND METHODS: MarketScan Commercial and Medicare Supplemental databases (January 1, 2009-December 31, 2013) were used to identify PD and probable PD + nOH patients. The first medical or prescription claim suggesting these diagnoses served as the index date. Baseline characteristics and post-index all-cause and fall-related healthcare utilization and costs were compared between patient groups.

RESULTS: A total of 17,421 PD and 281 PD + nOH patients were identified. Compared with PD patients, PD + nOH patients were older (77 vs 74 years; p < .0001) and had more comorbidities. Pre- and post-index date, more PD + nOH patients had a medically attended fall than PD patients (25% vs 20% [p = .0159] and 30% vs 21% [p = 0.0002], respectively). Fallers in both groups had similar numbers of medically attended falls 12-months pre-index (mean =1.9), but PD + nOH fallers had more falls post-index (2.5 vs 2.0; p = .0176). Compared with PD patients, more PD + nOH patients (all p < .01) had fall-related emergency department (ED) visits (18% vs 10%), hospitalizations (7% vs 3%), and non-office visit outpatient services (15% vs 10%). Adjusted total post-index medical costs for falls ($2,260 vs $1,049; p = .0002) and total all-cause costs ($31,260 vs $20,910; p < .0001) were higher for PD + nOH vs PD patients.

LIMITATIONS: This study had some limitations. There is no ICD-9-CM diagnosis code for nOH, so a combination of PD and OH diagnoses (with confounding conditions excluded) served as a proxy for an nOH diagnosis. Also, the rate of falls and associated costs in these cohorts might be under-reported because only medically attended falls were evaluated.

CONCLUSIONS: PD + nOH patients had a higher prevalence of pre-existing comorbidities and a higher rate of medically attended falls than those with PD alone, leading to increased costs of care.