An analysis published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology reviewed how gastrointestinal and liver diseases impacted nationwide hospitalization costs, Medpage Today reports.
Researchers analyzed discharge information from the all-payer National Readmission Database 2013, identifying 10,931,271 records for 8,214,048 patients. Patients were hospitalized at least once with either:
- Inflammatory bowel disease: 47,402 patients
- Chronic liver disease: 376,810
- Functional GI disorders: 351,583
- GI hemorrhage: 190,881
- Pancreatic diseases: 98,432
Here's what researchers found:
1. The following patients were the highest-need, highest-cost patients:
- 4,717 in the IBD cohort
- 37,293 in chronic liver disease
- 34,910 in functional disorders
- 18,864 in GI hemorrhage
- 9,648 in pancreatic diseases
2. Those patients were more likely to be:
- Older
- On Medicare
- Lower-income status
- Rurally located
- With high comorbidity burdens
- Obese
- Hospitalized for infections
3. The patients more frequently had GI procedures and blood transfusions.
4. Patients with these conditions spent six to seven days in a hospital annually, on average.
5. Patients with functional and motility disorders had the highest median costs, at $23,298. Patients with IBD had the lowest, at $12,716.
6. IBD patients spent a median of six days in the hospital annually. They contributed to 38 percent of hospitalization costs. IBD patients in the highest two deciles contributed to 55 percent of hospitalization costs.
7. With liver disease, patients spent 4.14 days per month in the hospital. Hospitalization costs were $8,925 per month. Patients in the top two deciles also contributed to 55 percent of hospital costs.
Researchers hope understanding the commonalities associated with these GI diseases could lead to the "adaptation of interventions proven successful in other diseases to gastroenterological care."
Researchers said focusing only on inpatient use without outpatient clinical details potentially limited the study's impact.