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Caseload, clinical spectrum and economic burden of infectious diseases in patients discharged from hospitals in Germany

H. Stocker, F. Kron, P. Hartmann, K. de With, M. Addo, M. Vehreschild, G. Fätkenheuer, B. Salzberger et al.

Infection, 2025

1,728,824 participants · 4 citations

Abstract

Over the last century infectious diseases have been kept under control in industrialized countries thanks to advances in hygiene, prevention and antimicrobial treatments. However, the emergence of HIV, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the rise of resistant bacteria exemplify that infectious diseases continue to pose a global threat. A comprehensive understanding of the caseload, spectrum of infectious diseases and the economic impact they pose is required to develop strategies for managing infectious diseases in a resilient healthcare system. (i) to determine the proportion of adult patients discharged from German hospitals with primary diagnoses classified as an infectious disease, (ii) to describe the clinical spectrum of these diagnoses, case characteristics, and hospital settings, and (iii) to estimate the total economic burden that these cases contribute to the in-patient sector of the healthcare system. A retrospective case-control study was performed using publicly available data on ICD10 codes assigned as primary diagnoses, case characteristics, treatment settings, and cost weights from all patients discharged from German hospitals in 2022. 1,728,824 adult patients (12% of all adult patients) were discharged with a primary diagnosis classified as an infectious disease. They were assigned 912 individual ICD10 codes. The 15 and 79 most frequently used codes comprised 40% (top 40% ID population) and 80% (top 80% ID population) of all infectious disease cases, respectively. In…

How strong is the evidence?

Evidence Hub reads this as a case-control, done in people. Its evidence level is 4 of 5 (Low · observational). Observational designs can show an association but not prove cause. Reported size: 1,728,824 participants or records.

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