Background: This study assessed incidence, risk factors, and outcomes of Staphylococcus aureus infections (SAI) following endoprosthetic hip or knee, or spine surgeries. Methods: Adult patients with at least one of the selected surgeries from 2012 to 2015 captured in a German sickness fund database were included. SAI were identified using S. aureus-specific ICD-10 codes. Patients with certain prior surgeries and infections were excluded. Cumulative incidence and incidence density of post-surgical SAI were assessed. Risk factors, mortality, healthcare resource utilization and direct costs were compared between SAI and non-SAI groups using multivariable analyses over the 1 year follow-up. Results: Overall, 74,327 patients who underwent a knee (28.6%), hip (39.6%), or spine surgery (31.8%) were included. The majority were female (61.58%), with a mean age of 69.59 years and a mean Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) of 2.3. Overall, 1.92% of observed patients (20.20 SAI per 1000 person-years (PY)) experienced a SAI within 1 year of index hospitalization. Knee surgeries were associated with lower SAI risk compared with hip surgeries (Hazard Ratio (HR) = 0.8; p = 0.024), whereas spine surgeries did not differ significantly from hip surgeries. Compared with non-SAI group, the SAI group had on average 4.4 times the number of hospitalizations (3.1 vs. 0.7) and 7.7 times the number of hospital days (53.5 vs. 6.9) excluding the index hospitalization (p < 0.001). One year post-orthopedic mortality was 22.38% in the SAI and 5.31% in the non-SAI group (p < 0.001). The total medical costs were significantly higher in the SAI group compared to non-SAI group (42,834€ vs. 13,781€; p < 0.001). Adjusting for confounders, the SAI group had nearly 2 times the all-cause direct healthcare costs (exp(b) = 1.9; p < 0.001); and 1.72 times higher risk of death (HR = 1.72; p < 0.001). Conclusions: SAI risk after orthopedic surgeries persists and is associated with significant economic burden and risk of mortality. Hence, risk reduction and prevention methods are of utmost importance.

Background: Current antiviral therapies for chronic hepatitis B (CHB) rarely achieve functional cure, thus often requiring lifelong therapy. A therapy achieving functional cure in a significant percentage of patients could change the treatment landscape substantially. However, the acceptability of functional cure by patients is unknown, especially if associated with additional treatment burden. Methods: A Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) including patients with CHB was performed between 2018 and 2019 in Germany. Patient inclusion criteria were confirmed CHB; age of at least 18 years; no history of hepatocellular carcinoma; no HIV or HCV/HDV coinfection. The final DCE included the following attributes: route of administration (oral administration by tablets; subcutaneous injection + tablets; intramuscular electroporation + tablets), side effect frequency (0/1/3 days per month), functional cure (1%/30%/50% of patients), frequency of physician visits (monthly, half-yearly) and travel time to treating physician (15/45 min). Results: The main analysis sample consisted of 108 patients with CHB (mean age: 49.1 years, female: 37.0%, average time since CHB diagnosis: 14.0 years, 52.8% with Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) chronic HBV infection). High efficacy was found to be the main driver of decisions for/against the presented treatment options (impacted 57% of patients' decisions), followed by therapy regimen (17%), safety profile (12%) and number of physician visits (11%). Latent class analysis revealed first insights into different decision patterns, with age, gender and previous side-effect experience affecting patients' decisions. Conclusion: In comparison to all other treatment-related attributes such as therapy regimen or safety profile, patients with CHB showed a strong preference towards a scenario where a substantial number of patients benefit from sustained disease remission, which mimics functional cure.

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Background Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases in Germany. While many patients achieve asthma control under standard therapies, some patients still experience exacerbations and persistent airway obstructions. Thus, further pharmacological treatment is needed, and biologics could fill this gap, as they have shown clinical benefit in patients with severe asthma. Therefore, this real-world study aimed to compare healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) and associated costs before and after biologic therapy initiation. Methods A retrospective claims data analysis has been conducted on adult asthma patients who initiated a long-term biologic therapy between January 2015 and June 2018. Patients were therapy-naïve to biologics for at least 12 months. HCRU and cost incurred by patients during 12 months before and after therapy initiation were compared. Results Overall, 571 asthma patients initiated a biologic therapy during the observational period (316 omalizumab, 232 mepolizumab, 16 benralizumab, and 7 reslizumab). Patients had a mean age of 54.86 (62.70% female), and the majority (93.70%) received at least one follow-up prescription of their index-biologic agent within one year. During baseline, patients received on average 2.75 OCS prescriptions compared to 2.17 during follow-up. Most patients received less or the same amount of OCS after therapy initiation. Moreover, hospitalizations and asthma-related sick leave days decreased significantly. The average total costs per patient were €6618.90 during baseline and €22,832.33 during follow-up. Biologics mainly drove the increase; however, hospitalization costs were reduced significantly (€2443.37 vs €1941.93; p<0.001). Conclusion Our study demonstrates an improved asthma control due to the initiation of a biologic therapy in terms of decreased hospitalization frequency, OCS consumption, and sick leave days. However, biologics are associated with high costs for healthcare providers during the first year after initiation. Therefore, short- and long-term clinical benefits and financial burden must be considered in the overall context of healthcare.

Background There are different levels of severity among patients who suffer from chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP). In this study, the epidemiology of CRSwNP and severe CRswNP was estimated. Methods A retrospective claim data analysis was conducted on adult CRSwNP patients (ICD‐10: J33), and those classified as severe CRSwNP patients with inadequate disease control (based upon combinations of previous and current treatments) between 2015 and 2019. Prevalence and incidence figures were calculated and extrapolated to the German population. In addition, baseline characteristics and treatment outcomes were analysed. Results Overall, the 5‐year prevalence of adult CRSwNP cases from 2015 to 2019 in Germany was 374,115 cases (about 5500 per million), with 12,989 (about 200 per million) patients being classified as severe CRSwNP with inadequate disease control, whereas 267,880 (about 3900 per million) patients were identified as having an incident CRSwNP diagnosis between 2016 and 2019. From the incident CRSwNP cohort, 80.55% had received at least one intranasal corticosteroid (INCS), 24.27% received at least 1 systemic corticosteroid (SCS), and 17.33% received at least one functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) within 12 months after their incident diagnosis. Conclusion Severe CRSwNP with inadequate disease control affects about 200 per million people in Germany. INCS is the first‐choice treatment for most CRSwNP patients; however, for patients with severe CRSwNP, SCS are prescribed more frequently and long‐term effects of these should be further investigated, especially if despite treatment, adequate disease control cannot be achieved.