Vascular dementia encoding in the French nationwide discharge summary database (PMSI): Variability over the 2007-2017 period.

OBJECTIVE

Vascular dementia (VaD) is the second leading cause of dementia. Diagnostic criteria have evolved from the concept of multiple infarctions to different subtypes: acute onset VaD, subcortical VaD, mixed cortical and subcortical VaD. Our aim was to analyze the evolution in the coding of these different subtypes of VaD in the French nationwide exhaustive hospital discharge database (PMSI) between 2007 and 2017.

METHOD: We included all principal diagnoses of VaD in the PMSI hospital stays from 2007 to 2017.

RESULTS

Between 2007 and 2017, we show a relative decrease in the number of hospital stays for VaD compared to all hospital stays (0.0437% to 0.0404%). The 11,654 hospital stays for VaD in 2017 represent 13.5% of mental organic disorders. Subtype analysis shows a decrease in hospital stays for multiple infarctions between 2007 and 2017 (-50%), an increase for subcortical or mixed VaD (+20%), acute onset VaD (+184%) and an increase in "other VaD" (+85%).

CONCLUSION

These data suggest a slight decrease in hospital stays for VaD, possibly related to better control of cardiovascular risk factors. They also suggest that the coding should be consistent with the evolution of diagnostic criteria.