Among patients aged 18 to 64 years with nonrepeat ischemic stroke, atrial fibrillation was associated with $4,905 higher adjusted hospital costs compared to those without atrial fibrillation.
Observational (n=40,082)
Yes
Does the presence of atrial fibrillation increase hospital costs in patients aged 18-64 years admitted for ischemic stroke?
Atrial fibrillation is associated with substantially higher hospital costs during ischemic stroke admissions in patients aged 18-64 years.
Mean Difference: 4905
Absolute Event Rate: 23770% vs 18779%
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Hospital costs associated with atrial fibrillation (AFib) among patients with stroke have not been well-studied, especially among people aged 64 years, missing geographic region, hospital costs below the 1st or above 99th percentile, and having carotid intervention (n=40 082). We searched the data for AFib and analyzed the costs for nonrepeat and repeat stroke admissions separately. We estimated the AFib-associated costs using multivariate regression models controlling for age, sex, geographic region, and Charlson comorbidity index. RESULTS: Of the 33 500 nonrepeat stroke admissions, 2407 (7. 2%) had AFib. Admissions with AFib cost 4991 more than those without AFib (23 770 versus 18 779). For the 6582 repeat stroke admissions, 397 (6. 0%) had AFib. The costs were 3260 more for those with AFib than those without (24 119 versus 20 929). After controlling for potential confounders, AFib-associated costs for nonrepeat stroke admissions were 4905, representing 20. 6% of the total costs for the admissions. Both the hospital costs and the AFib-associated costs were associated with age, but not with sex. AFib-associated costs for repeat stroke admissions were not significantly higher than for non-AFib patients, except for those aged 55 to 64 years (3537). CONCLUSIONS: AFib increased the hospital cost of ischemic stroke substantially. Further investigation on AFib-associated costs for repeat stroke admissions is needed.
Wang et al. (Wed,) conducted a observational in Ischemic stroke (n=40,082). Atrial fibrillation vs. No atrial fibrillation was evaluated on Hospital costs for nonrepeat stroke admissions (MD $4905). Among patients aged 18 to 64 years with nonrepeat ischemic stroke, atrial fibrillation was associated with $4,905 higher adjusted hospital costs compared to those without atrial fibrillation.