Abstracts for Canadian Stroke Conference

Abstract

Specogna, AV; Patten, SB; Hill, MD; University of Calgary, Calgary, AB Background: Previous studies have examined predictors of treatment costs after Spontaneous Intracerebral Hemorrhage (ICH) in various countries and healthcare systems. Currently however, there is no clear understanding of which factors are associated with cost in any Canadian setting and thus no way of understanding how to plan ICH healthcare spending. Methods: We used a retrospective case series study design and adjusted linear regression to investigate if an association existed between the total cost of ICH hospital care in a Canadian health centre and age (years), gender (female vs. male), Charlson Comorbidity Index (0 vs. ≥1), in-hospital mortality (alive vs. dead), and having surgery (no vs. yes). Economic, treatment, and patient data were obtained from administrative sources. Total inflation-adjusted hospital cost per discharge was estimated in Canadian Dollars and log transformed for all analyses. Results: Analyses were performed using 987 consecutive ICH discharges from 1999 to 2008. The total cost of ICH hospital care was highly variable (mean cost per discharge=$25,613.96±$36,116.33; min $446.81 to max $326,275.10). Older age (β=–0.0057; 95% CI: –0.0103 to –0.0011) and death in hospital (β=–0.4859; 95% CI: –0.6357 to –0.3342) were significantly associated with lower total hospital cost per discharge. Whereas Charlson Comorbidity Index of ≥1 (β=0.6489; 95% CI: 0.5063 to 0.7916) and having surgery (β=1.3552; 95% CI: 1.1893 to 1.5210) were significantly associated with higher total hospital cost per discharge. Gender was not significantly associated with cost (β=0.0727; 95% CI: –0.0679 to 0.2134). Conclusions: To our knowledge this is the first study to examine predictors of ICH treatment costs in Canada. In a Canadian health centre, ICH treatment costs were significantly associated with patient age, level of comorbidity, in-hospital mortality, and surgical treatment. This study provides evidence that it may be reasonable to consider …