Northern Henan hospital study describes rare disease admissions, costs and readmissions

Researchers examined rare disease inpatient characteristics and hospitalization burden at the First Affiliated Hospital of Henan Medical University in northern Henan, China. The retrospective observational study covered January 2018 through December 2025, identifying cases through ICD-10 codes corresponding to China's 2018 and 2023 national rare disease catalogs. Analyses assessed demographics, disease categories, hospitalization costs, readmissions and temporal trends.

The study included 3,496 cases, accounting for 0.38% of all hospitalizations; 55.6% were male, and mean age was 49.56 years. Annual case counts increased, reaching 1,098 in 2025. Nervous system and respiratory diseases represented 29.1% and 21.4% of cases, respectively. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis was the most frequent individual disease, with 745 cases (21.3%).

Mean hospitalization costs were highest for perinatal diseases at CNY 35,800, compared with CNY 20,353 for tumor-related rare diseases. Among the 15 diseases ranked highest by readmission rate, rates ranged from 83.5% for ANCA-associated vasculitis to 9.7% for multiple system atrophy. ARIMA modeling projected further growth in case numbers in 2026; this was a forecast, not an observed outcome.

The findings may inform regional inpatient capacity and resource planning. However, this single-center, hospital-based analysis does not establish population prevalence or explain the increase in admissions. The supplied text also does not specify the readmission time window, limiting interpretation of those rates.