Healthcare utilization and costs in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia: A population-based study
Journal
Asian Journal of Andrology
Journal Volume
18
Journal Issue
6
Pages
942-945
Date Issued
2016
Author(s)
Abstract
This study aimed to investigate differences in healthcare service utilization between patients with and those without benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) using Taiwan′s National Health Insurance population-based database. A total of 7413 patients with BPH and 7413 age-matched patients without BPH were included. The outcome variable was 1-year utilization of healthcare services including the number of outpatient visits, inpatient days, and the costs of outpatient and inpatient treatments. In addition, we separated healthcare services into urology services and nonurology services for analysis. We found that as to the utilization of outpatient urological services, patients with BPH had more outpatient services (7.84 vs 0.52, P< 0.001), higher outpatient costs (US$372 vs US$34, P< 0.001), a longer length of inpatient stay (0.55 vs 0.11, P< 0.001), higher in-patients costs (US$149 vs US$32, P< 0.001), and higher total costs (US$521 vs US$67, P< 0.001) than the comparison group. As for nonurological services, patients with BPH also had more outpatient services (49.11 vs 24.79, P< 0.001), higher outpatient costs (US$1794 vs US$1014, P< 0.001), a longer length of in-patient stay (3.72 vs 2.04, P< 0.001), higher inpatient costs (US$874 vs US$486, P< 0.001), and higher total costs (US$2668 vs US$1500, P< 0.001) compared to comparison patients. We also found that the average total cost was about 2-fold greater for patients with BPH than comparison patients. We concluded that patients with BPH had higher healthcare utilization than comparison patients without BPH. ? 2016 AJA, SIMM & SJTU. All rights reserved.
Subjects
benign prostatic hyperplasia; epidemiology; health care utilization
SDGs
Other Subjects
adult; aged; Article; controlled clinical trial; controlled study; cross-sectional study; follow up; health care cost; health care utilization; health insurance; health service; hospital patient; hospitalization; hospitalization cost; human; length of stay; major clinical study; male; middle aged; multicenter study; outcome variable; outpatient care; population based case control study; prostate hypertrophy; urban population; urological care; urology; very elderly; economics; factual database; health service; patient attitude; Prostatic Hyperplasia; Taiwan; utilization; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Cross-Sectional Studies; Databases, Factual; Health Care Costs; Health Services; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Patient Acceptance of Health Care; Prostatic Hyperplasia; Taiwan
Publisher
Medknow Publications
Type
journal article