Objective: To describe sociodemographics, treatment patterns, and costs among Parkinson’s patients who received deep brain stimulation (DBS) in the United States (US).

Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a prevalent neurodegenerative disease in the US [1], where DBS is an approved treatment option [2]. However, impact of DBS utilization across payers remains limited.

Method: We conducted a retrospective cohort study in RWD Insights from 2015 to 2023 [3] covering ~300 million lives. Patients were identified by ≥1 PD claim and ≥1 DBS claim using relevant codes. Index date was first DBS encounter. Observation period began all years prior to incident DBS till end of data availability or death.

Results: 7,462 patients (64.9% male) were included with median observation time of 2.8 years (IQR 1.1-5.0) after first DBS. 8,993 lead implantations were conducted (84.3% 00H03MZ) with 5-fold increase from 2015 to 2023. Almost all lead and generator implantations were conducted in a single day. Median age at first PD and first DBS was 66.0 years (IQR 60.0-71.0) and 69.0 years (IQR 62.0-74.0) respectively. 91.9% were White (5.1% Black, 2.9% Asian) and 87.8% non-Hispanic, and were geographically dispersed (36.6% South; 27.1% Mid-West; 22.6% West; 13.7% Northeast) with 96.8% in urban areas. 42.4% had essential tremor diagnoses, 26.8% dystonia, and 0.1% MSA-P. 11.2% patients had levodopa prescriptions, with mean daily dosage 6 months before and after DBS of 1005 mg and 1022 mg respectively. 13.5% had reported deaths at median age 76.0 years (IQR 72.0-80.0), with median observation time between first DBS to death of 3.7 years (IQR 2.2-5.3).

In 2023, 34.0% of DBS were covered by commercial, compared to 28.7% Medicare FFS, 17.2% Medicaid, 16.1% Medicare Part C, 3.0% other US governmental plans, and 0.9% Dual-eligible. In 2023, the median adjudicated cost of DBS lead implantation was $56,748 (IQR 31,823-91,998). This median cost was highest for Dual-eligible ($92,594; IQR 52,451-116,921), followed by Medicaid ($54,112; IQR 27,603-92,378), commercial ($50,503; IQR 27,926-91,507), Medicare Part C ($48,973; IQR 28,053-73,249), Medicare FFS ($48,615; IQR 25,089-92,694), and other US governmental ($45,689; IQR 29,815-85,240) plans.

Conclusion: This study supports limited DBS utilization with recent increases amongst PD patients and reveals heterogeneity between plans.

References: 1. Willis, A. W., Roberts, E., Beck, J. C., Fiske, B., Ross, W., Savica, R., Van Den Eeden, S. K., Tanner, C. M., Marras, C., & Parkinson’s Foundation P4 Group (2022). Incidence of Parkinson disease in North America. NPJ Parkinson’s disease, 8(1), 170. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41531-022-00410-y
2. Okun M.S., Foote K.D. (2010). Parkinson’s disease DBS: what, when, who and why? The time has come to tailor DBS targets. Expert Rev Neurother, 10(12), 1847. https://doi.org/10.1586/ern.10.156
3. RWD Insights. Real-world data for real-world evidence: STATinMED [cited 2025 March]. Available from: https://statinmed.com/data/

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/characteristics-and-trends-of-parkinsons-disease-patients-receiving-deep-brain-stimulation-insights-from-a-us-all-payer-health-administrative-claims-database/