We queried the National Readmissions Database (NRD) to identify patients >40 years old with ET and PD who received DBS from 2016-2017. We calculated the proportion of men and women for both diagnoses and compared demographic, clinical, and admission characteristics using chi-square and t-tests. Sampling weights were used to produce national estimates. Patients at the University of Colorado were identified using referral logs from 2011-2018.

From 2016-2017, 6,954 individuals with PD received DBS, including 2,118 women (30.5%) and 4,836 men (69.5%). There were no differences in age, primary payer, income, length of stay (LOS), or discharge disposition between sexes. Three thousand ten patients with ET underwent DBS, including 1,287 women (42.8%) and 1,723 (57.2%) men. More women had Medicare as the primary payer (77.9% vs 66.1%) and women averaged a slightly longer LOS (1.8 vs 1.4 days). Twice as many women were discharged to inpatient rehabilitation than men, however, numbers were low overall.

Sixty-eight patients with ET were referred to the University of Colorado for DBS from 2011-2018, including 48 (70.6%) men and 20 (29.4%) women. Of the 36 men approved, 30 underwent surgery, while 12 women were approved but only six pursued surgery (83.3% men vs 50% women, p=0.02).