HCRU and costs

HCRU was assessed in terms of the number of patients with at least one SE- or epilepsy-related out-patient visit [specialists and general practitioners (GP), approximated by counted dates of invoiced codes according to the uniform valuation scheme (EBM)] and the related number of visits per observed patient/patient-year, as well as the number of SE-related hospitalizations per patient/patient-year, the number of days in the hospital per patient-year and the number of out-patient prescriptions (identified via ATC). Additionally, SE-related direct costs for out-patient visits [ICD-10 G40/G41; calculated as the number of visits with points per visit, which express the complexity of a visit according to a German point value system (EBM)], hospitalizations (ICD-10 G41; costs paid by the health insurance as documented in the database) and prescribed ASM and RM (calculated with pharmacy sales prices of each medication) following the index event were reported per observed patient-year. Additionally, hospitalization costs were reported per observed in-patient hospitalization.