Trends in the use and costs of intermittent urinary catheters in the Netherlands from 1997 to 2018: A population‐based observational study

AIM: To obtain insight into the the use and costs of clean intermittent catheterization (CIC) in the Netherlands from 1997 to 2018. METHODS: For this population‐based study, data on the use and costs of disposable catheters were provided by the Drug Information Project database. This database contains information about the Dutch insured population, which increased from 9.9 to 17.1 million persons between 1997 and 2018 (64%–100% of the Dutch population). The following trends were evaluated: (1) CIC users, (2) distribution of users by gender and age‐group, (3) distribution of users by neurogenic and non‐neurogenic cause for CIC, (4) total costs, and (5) costs per user. Total users are adjusted for the Dutch population. Costs are corrected for inflation and expressed in euros. RESULTS: Extramural use of CIC increased from 14,258 users in 1997 to 45,909 users in 2018. CIC users per 100,000 persons nearly tripled from 92 users to 267 users. Male CIC users almost quadrupled from 92 to 334 per 100,000 insured persons, whereas female users more than doubled from 91 to 201 per 100,000 insured persons. In 2018, 49% of the users had a non‐neurogenic cause for CIC. Total costs increased from 16.4 million euros in 1997 to 74.6 million euros in 2018. Costs per user rose from 1151 to 1624 euros (41.1%). CONCLUSIONS: The use and costs of disposable catheters in the Netherlands increased substantially over the past two decades. Non‐neurogenic bladder patients represent 49% of the population on CIC, which has not been described before in the literature.