Drivers and recent trends of hospitalisation costs related to acute pulmonary embolism

The socio-economic burden imposed by acute pulmonary embolism (PE) on European healthcare systems is largely unknown. We sought to determine temporal trends and identify cost drivers of hospitalisation for PE in Germany. We analysed the totality of reimbursed hospitalisation costs in Germany (G-DRG system) in the years 2016–2020. Overall, 484 884 PE hospitalisations were coded in this period. Direct hospital costs amounted to a median of 3572 (IQR, 2804 to 5869) euros, resulting in average total reimbursements of 710 million euros annually. Age, PE severity, comorbidities and in-hospital (particularly bleeding) complications were identified by multivariable logistic regression as significant cost drivers. Use of catheter-directed therapy (CDT) constantly increased (annual change in the absolute proportion of hospitalisations with CDT + 0.40