This study aimed to compare the financial burden of hospitalized patients with the diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in the United States.

Using data from the Agency Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) database, we examined all cases of MS from 2009 to 2019. Z-test statistic was used to compare the statistical significance in all 50 states of the United States

A total of 267,558 patients with the diagnosis of MS  were hospitalized during the study period, with a mean rate per 100,000 population of 7.7[+/- 0.2]. The rate per year of MS was fluctuating with the highest rate being in 2016 for 8.1/100,000. Patients were mostly female (73%) with a mean age of 44[+/-0.22] years old and mean length of stay of 4.5[+/-0.1] days.The mean charges in the cohort for each MS patient was $35,069 per admission, with a total cumulative aggregated charges of $ 1,102,282,270[+/- 35,869,591] during the cohort. The charges in teaching hospitals were higher $32,648, compared to non-teaching hospitals $28,300, respectively (p-Value=0 ). There has been a significant increase in charges from $ 27,231 in 2009 to $ 46,678 in 2019 (p-Value=0). When reviewing the charges in the Teaching as compared to the non-Teaching institutions, we observed a higher charge in the Teaching institutions during all years (p-Value=0). Using data from the Agency Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) database, we examined all cases of MS from 2009 to 2019. Z-test statistic was used to compare the statistical significance in all 50 states of the United States.

Our data show that the rate of MS hospitalization in the United States is low but it is very expensive.