Evaluation of the Economic Burden of Kidney Stone Disease in the UK: A Retrospective Cohort study with a mean follow-up of 19 years.

To estimate the of the cost of kidney stone disease (KSD) in England.

We conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients with KSD referred to a metabolic stone clinic between 1990 and 2007 using electronic records of patients with KSD in a tertiary referral centre to determine cost using NHS tariff, with subsequent extrapolation to entire England population. Those with no documentation and less than 5 years follow-up were excluded. The outcome measure was calculation of cost (as per 2018 NHS tariff), presented as lower and higher estimate for: per episode, total within the cohort and estimation of initial, 5-,10- and 15-year costs for the cohort and total population in England. Linear regression was used to examine for significant predictors of per episode and total cost.

781 patients were included in the study after 1000 records were screened for inclusion, with a mean follow-up of 19 years. The mean overall costs per episode were between £1277±1724 and 2887±2492. Total initial costs for the cohort were between £950,842 and £2,336,442, rising to between £1.43 million and £3.02 million at 15 years follow-up. Estimated cost in 2010 in England alone was between £190 million and £324 million.

Kidney stone disease is a costly disease, comparable to the combined cost of prostate and bladder cancer in UK.

BJU international. 2020 Jan 08 [Epub ahead of print]

R M Geraghty, P Cook, V Walker, B K Somani

Academic Clinical Fellow, Freeman Hospital, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK., Chemical Pathologist, University Hospital Southampton, Southampton, UK., Urological Surgeon, University Hospital Southampton, Southampton, UK.