COVID-19-Related Healthcare Resource Utilisation and Costs in Paediatric Patients in Germany: A Population-Based...

There is limited evidence on the economic burden of COVID-19 in Germany. This study aims to quantify healthcare resource utilisation (HCRU) and direct medical costs associated with COVID-19 in paediatrics in Germany.

This was a population-based retrospective cohort study using data from the German Statutory Health Insurance (SHI) claims database to define outpatient (April 2020 to December 2021) and hospitalised (April 2020 to October 2022) cohorts of paediatric patients (aged 1-17 years) with a COVID-19 diagnosis.

In the outpatient cohort (n = 104,656), most (77%) patients had ≥ 2 COVID-19-related general practitioner (GP) visits and 29% had ≥ 1 specialist visit during their diagnosis quarter. Outpatient resource use was greater in high-risk patients. When stratified by age, a greater proportion of children aged 1-4 years had ≥ 2 GP consultations, with specialist visits more common in those aged 5-11 years. The median cost per COVID-19 diagnosis quarter per patient was €192. Among the hospitalised cohort (n = 3129), the median general inpatient length of hospital stay (LoS) per patient per admission was 6.0 days; LoS was highest in those aged 5-11 years (7.0 days), at high risk (7.0 days) and during Alpha and Omicron predominance (both 7.0 days). The median cost per admission per patient was €12,503. Admission to critical care was observed in 13%, in whom the median cost per hospitalisation was €21,193.

COVID-19-associated HCRU and costs among the paediatric population in Germany are non-negligible, driven largely by hospitalisations, particularly those who had a critical care admission and were at high risk.