Costs of Urinary Incontinence in Germany

Aim: To investigate direct costs and quality of life of female patients suffering from urinary incontinence (UI) in Germany. Method: PURE (Prospective Urinary Incontinence Research) was a prospective, European wide non-interventional post marketing surveillance study over 6 months. Data were collected by investigators and patients at baseline, at two following visits after three and six months and also retrospectively for twelve month prior to baseline. Quality of life data was collected using the disease specific I-QoL and the generic EQ-5D. Data was analyzed with standard descriptive and analytical statistical methods. Data for Germany will be compared and discussed with respect to data collected in other European countries within the overall PURE study. Results: Data from 2715 female patients with a mean age of 66.3 years could be included into the analysis. Costs data within the paper are presented for different types of UI. A special focus will be given to differences in specific direct cost domains, age, income and other socio demographic variables. Conclusion: PURE allows an insight into the economic costs and consequences of urinary incontinence both in relation to national health care systems and in direct relation to the patient as both costs of the public sector and patients' treatment costs were analyzed. In a comparison between Germany, Spain and UK/Ireland, costs for conservative treatment were highest in UK/Ireland.