1. Secular trends of health care resource utilization and costs between Brugada syndrome and congenital long QT syndrome: A territory-wide study.
- Author
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Lee S, Chung CTS, Radford D, Chou OHI, Lee TTL, Ng ZMW, Roever L, Rajan R, Bazoukis G, Letsas KP, Zeng S, Liu FZ, Wong WT, Liu T, and Tse G
- Subjects
- Humans, Male, Adult, Middle Aged, Female, Retrospective Studies, Patient Acceptance of Health Care, Arrhythmias, Cardiac complications, Health Care Costs, Brugada Syndrome, Long QT Syndrome diagnosis, Long QT Syndrome epidemiology, Long QT Syndrome therapy
- Abstract
Background: Health care resource utilization (HCRU) and costs are important metrics of health care burden, but they have rarely been explored in the setting of cardiac ion channelopathies., Hypothesis: This study tested the hypothesis that attendance-related HCRUs and costs differed between patients with Brugada syndrome (BrS) and congenital long QT syndrome (LQTS)., Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of consecutive BrS and LQTS patients at public hospitals or clinics in Hong Kong, China. HCRUs and costs (in USD) for Accident and Emergency (A&E), inpatient, general outpatient and specialist outpatient attendances were analyzed between 2001 and 2019 at the cohort level. Comparisons were made using incidence rate ratios (IRRs [95% confidence intervals])., Results: Over the 19-year period, 516 BrS (median age of initial presentation: 51 [interquartile range: 38-61] years, 92% male) and 134 LQTS (median age of initial presentation: 21 [9-44] years, 32% male) patients were included. Compared to LQTS patients, BrS patients had lower total costs (2 008 126 [2 007 622-2 008 629] vs. 2 343 864 [2 342 828-2 344 900]; IRR: 0.857 [0.855-0.858]), higher costs for A&E attendances (83 113 [83 048-83 177] vs. 70 604 [70 487-70 721]; IRR: 1.177 [1.165-1.189]) and general outpatient services (2,176 [2,166-2,187] vs. 921 [908-935]; IRR: 2.363 [2.187-2.552]), but lower costs for inpatient stay (1 391 624 [1 391 359-1 391 889] vs. 1 713 742 [1 713 166-1 714 319]; IRR: 0.812 [0.810-0.814]) and lower costs for specialist outpatient services (531 213 [531 049-531 376] vs. 558 597 [558268-558926]; IRR: 0.951 [0.947-0.9550])., Conclusions: Overall, BrS patients consume 14% less health care resources compared to LQTS patients in terms of attendance costs. BrS patients require more A&E and general outpatient services, but less inpatient and specialist outpatient services than LQTS patients., (© 2023 The Authors. Clinical Cardiology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)
- Published
- 2023
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