Hospitalization costs of cystic fibrosis in the United States: a retrospective analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To determine patient, hospital, and clinical characteristics associated with the length of stay (LOS), total hospital charges, and total hospital costs in cystic fibrosis (CF).

METHODS: Hospital discharge records with primary and secondary diagnoses of CF were identified from the 2012 Kids' Inpatient Database (KID) consisting of inpatient records of ages 0-20 years; and 2012 National Inpatient Sample (NIS) consisting of inpatient records of ages 21 and above. Both the databases are part of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP). Patient demographics, hospital characteristics, clinical characteristics, and outcome measures from KID and NIS were utilized in the analyses. Univariate and multivariate statistical analyses were conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics 24.0.

RESULTS: A total of 3142 and 10,258 CF-related hospital discharges were identified from 2012 KID and 2012 NIS databases, respectively. Among children, the mean (SD) LOS was 9.79 (10.51) days with a mean hospital costs of $26,249.23 (40,592.81). Adults had a mean LOS of 8.54 (8.42) days with a mean hospital costs of $21,600.91 (31,997.52). Number of procedures and total comorbidities were identified as the most important predictors of LOS, total hospital charges, and total hospital costs in both datasets.

CONCLUSIONS: Hospitalizations contribute significantly to the economic burden of CF. As inpatient costs in CF vary by patient, clinical, and hospital characteristics, healthcare decision makers need to utilize a targeted approach in different age groups to reduce hospital admission rates and the overall economic burden of CF.