Additional costs of inpatient malnutrition, Victoria, Australia, 2003-2004

Our objective was to estimate the cost of inpatient malnutrition conditional upon admitting diagnosis and recorded nutritional treatment. We analysed an anonymised administrative data set for inpatients treated in hospitals in Victoria, Australia 2003-2004. The data set included patient-level cost,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The European journal of health economics 2011-08, Vol.12 (4), p.353-361
Main Authors: Rowell, D. S., Jackson, T. J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Australia
Codes
Comorbidity
Cost estimates
Cost estimation models
Costs and Cost Analysis
Datasets
Economic models
Economic Policy
Economic theory
Female
Health Care Costs
Health care delivery
Health care expenditures
Health Care Management
Health Economics
Hospital admissions
Hospital costs
Hospital Costs - statistics & numerical data
Hospital systems
Hospitals, Public - economics
Hospitals, Public - utilization
Humans
Inpatient care
Inpatients
Intervention
Linear Models
Male
Malnutrition
Malnutrition - diagnosis
Malnutrition - economics
Malnutrition - therapy
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Middle Aged
Nutrition
Nutritionists
Original Paper
Parenteral nutrition
Patients
Pharmacoeconomics and Health Outcomes
Protein energy malnutrition
Proteins
Public Finance
Public Health
Quality of care
Quality of Health Care
Studies
Teaching hospitals
Variable costs
Variables
Victoria
Victorians
Young Adult
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Summary:Our objective was to estimate the cost of inpatient malnutrition conditional upon admitting diagnosis and recorded nutritional treatment. We analysed an anonymised administrative data set for inpatients treated in hospitals in Victoria, Australia 2003-2004. The data set included patient-level cost, clinical markers, demographic and episode variables. The data set was analysed to identify codes, which indicated the presence of malnutrition or its treatment. Linear regression was used to ascertain to what extent malnutrition affected the cost of admission. Controlling for the underlying condition and any treatment administered, recorded malnutrition is estimated to add AU $1,745 per admission. The total cost of coded malnutrition to the Victorian public hospital system in 2003-2004 was estimated to be least AU $10.7 million. Only 1.87% of inpatients were coded as malnourished. As administrative data are known to underreport the prevalence of malnutrition, our estimate represents a credible lower boundary on the true cost of inpatient malnutrition.
ISSN:1618-7598
1618-7601
DOI:10.1007/s10198-010-0245-3