Costs of Hospitalization for Dementia in Urban China: Estimates from Two Urban Health Insurance Scheme Claims Data in Guangzhou City

Background: Dementia is one of the public health priorities in China. This study aimed to examine the hospitalization costs of patients with dementia and analyzed the factors associated with their inpatient costs. Methods: This was a prevalence-based, observational study using claims data derived from two urban insurance schemes during the period from 2008 through 2013 in Guangzhou. The extended estimating equations model was performed to identify the main drivers of total inpatient costs. Results: We identified 5747 dementia patients with an average age of 77.4. The average length of stay (LOS) was 24.2 days. The average hospitalization costs per inpatient was Chinese Yuan (CNY) 9169.0 (CNY 9169.0 = US$1479.8 in 2013). The mean inpatient costs for dementia patients with the Urban Employee-based Basic Medical Insurance (UEBMI) scheme (CNY 9425.0 = US$1521.1) were higher than those for patients with the Urban Resident-based Basic Medical Insurance scheme (CNY 7420.5 = US$1197.6) (p < 0.001). Having UEBMI coverage, dementia subtypes, having hypertension, being admitted in larger hospitals, and longer LOS were significantly associated with hospitalization costs of dementia. Conclusions: The costs of hospitalization for dementia were high and differed by types of insurance schemes. Dementia was associated with substantial hospitalization costs, mainly driven by insurance type and long LOS. These findings provided economic evidence for evaluating the burden of dementia in China.