An Analysis of Epidemiological Factors in Heart Failure Outcomes

Karan Patel; Kamil Taneja; Aleem Mohamed; Sai Batchu; Hailey Hsiung; Connor Mott; Haley Tornberg; Urvish K Patel

doi:10.7759/cureus.22627

An Analysis of Epidemiological Factors in Heart Failure Outcomes

Cureus. 2022 Feb 26;14(2):e22627. doi: 10.7759/cureus.22627. eCollection 2022 Feb.

Authors

Karan Patel¹, Kamil Taneja², Aleem Mohamed¹, Sai Batchu³, Hailey Hsiung⁴, Connor Mott¹, Haley Tornberg¹, Urvish K Patel⁵

Affiliations

¹ Medical Student, Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, Camden, USA.
² Medical Student, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, USA.
³ Neurosciences, Independent Researcher, Montville, USA.
⁴ Healthcare (Social Sciences), Independent, Highland Park, USA.
⁵ Public Health and Neurology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA.

Abstract

Background Various socioeconomic and demographic factors play a role in determining treatment outcomes across numerous conditions. Different studies have shown that certain demographic factors, such as income status, directly correlate with treatment outcomes. In this study, we analyze the effect of some of these variables, namely, insurance and age, on various endpoints, including length of stay and discharge status, among heart failure patients. Methodology The data used in this project were retrieved from the HealthCare Utilization Project. We sorted the data by insurance, age, length of stay, and discharge status. To compare discharge status between different insurance types and age groups, we used Stata to compute odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. To compare the length of stay among different age groups and insurance types, we conducted an unpaired two-tailed Student's t-test. Results Across all age groups, we found that younger patients with heart failure are more likely to discharge against medical advice compared to older patients. The average length of stay for heart failure patients was the same across all age groups except those 85 and older. Moreover, patients with a lower socioeconomic status, as determined by insurance type, were more likely to discharge against medical advice and less likely to die within hospitals. Conclusions Our results speak to the socioeconomic inequalities seen in medicine today. Studies have shown that those with a lower socioeconomic status tend to have worse outcomes across various conditions. Our analysis shows this phenomenon holds true for heart failure as well. In addition, our study helps to determine which groups are at higher risk of making medical decisions, such as discharging against medical advice, that will negatively affect their condition. Identifying these high-risk groups is a key first step to counteracting such behavior.

Keywords: epidemiology and biostatistics; healthcare disparity; heart failure; insurance status; length of hospital stay (los).