Introduction: Hospitalizations of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) lead to an explosion of expenditure on the public health system or private health expenses in family budgets. This study aims to estimate the duration and the cost of hospitalization for the public health system or the private cost to patients hospitalized after an AF episode.
Material and methods: Two hundred thirty-five consecutive patients (141 men and 94 women with an average age of 71.91 ± 12.2 years) who presented with AF to the Emergency Department of the General Hospital of Veroia during a single year were studied. We assessed the possible causes of arrhythmia, the duration and outcome of hospitalization, and the cost of hospitalization. We estimated the total cost by adding the price of the drugs used to cardiovert and the money spent on the patient's hospitalization.
Results: The average hospitalization time was 2.37 ± 1.17 days, and the average cost of hospitalization (total cost) was € 488.22 ± 170.34. There was a significant correlation between the severity of the episode and the total cost (r =0.78, p<0.0001), with 87.6 % of the total cost (€ 427.76 ± 135.86) being related to the cost of hospitalization (imaging, laboratory, hospitalization) and the rest to the drug therapy cost. Amiodarone (97 patients, 41.1 %), flecainide (52 patients, 22 %), propafenone (68 patients, 28.8 %), vernakalant (two patients, 0.8 %), and quinidine (eight patients, 3.4 %) were utilized.
Conclusion: The average cost of hospital care in patients with AF is significantly related to the severity of the episode. Effective drug therapy to reduce AF-provoking factors, such as antihypertensive therapy, combined with cardiovascular disease prevention in general, could reduce the morbidity and costs of AF-related hospitalizations. HIPPOKRATIA 2023, 27 (1):18-21.
Keywords: Atrial fibrillation; DRG; cost; diagnosis-related groups; hospitalization; management.
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