Objective  To analyze medical expense of hospitalization among inpatients with major non communicable chronic diseases (NCDs) in China in 2013 for providing references to the control of medical cost and reduction of disease burden of the patients.

  Methods  The data on 11 956 hospitalized patients with major NCDs were extracted from the Fifth National Health Service Survey conducted in 2013. The provincial-level region- specific ratio hospitalization expense of the patients with NCDs versus that of all hospitalized patients was calculated and compared.

  Results  The total hospitalization expense was 120.98 millions Yuan RMB for the 11 956 surveyed inpatients in 2013 and the disease-specific hospitalization expense (million Yuan RMB)/ratio versus the total expense (percentage) for all NCDs were 38.95/32.20% for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, 26.76/22.12% for malignant tumor, 6.14/5.08% for chronic respiratory diseases, 5.37/4.44% for diabetes, and 43.74/36.16% for other NCDs, respectively. Among the hospitalization expenses for the inpatients with other chronic diseases, the expense was the highest (5.89 millions Yuan RMB) for the inpatients with intervertebral disc disease, accounting for 4.87% of the total hospitalization expense for all the NCDs inpatients. Higher provincial-level region- specific ratio (> 30%) of hospitalization expense for inpatients with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases versus that for all the NCDs inpatients was identified in 14 northern provincial regions and 3 provincial regions in other parts of China; while, the higher ratio for malignant tumor (> 30%) was found in 6 southern provincial regions and 2 provincial regions in other parts of China.

  Conclusion  More than a half amount of hospitalization medical expense of inpatients with major NCDs are due to the expense of the inpatients with cardiovascular or cerebrovascular diseases and malignant tumor; the ratio of hospitalization medical expense for cardiovascular or cerebrovascular diseases inpatients in northern regions and malignant tumor inpatients in southern regions are higher compared to that of the inpatients with the same diseases but in other regions of China.