Inpatient Hospitalization Costs Associated with Birth Defects Among Persons Aged <65 Years - United States, 2019.

Changing treatments and medical costs necessitate updates to hospitalization cost estimates for birth defects. The 2019 National Inpatient Sample was used to estimate the service delivery costs of hospitalizations among patients aged <65 years for whom one or more birth defects were documented as discharge diagnoses. In 2019, the estimated cost of these birth defect-associated hospitalizations in the United States was $22.2 billion. Birth defect-associated hospitalizations bore disproportionately high costs, constituting 4.1% of all hospitalizations among persons aged <65 years and 7.7% of related inpatient medical costs. Updating estimates of hospitalization costs provides information about health care resource use associated with birth defects and the financial impact of birth defects across the life span and illustrates the need to determine the continued health care needs of persons born with birth defects to ensure optimal health for all.
Competing Interests: All authors have completed and submitted the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors form for disclosure of potential conflicts of interest. Russell S. Kirby holds the Marrell endowed chair at the University of South Florida, College of Public Health and serves on the board of directors for the National Birth Defects Prevention Network. Jason L. Salemi and Jean Paul Tanner report grant support to the Florida Department of Health, subcontracted to the University of South Florida, for Advancing Population-based Surveillance of Birth Defects. No other potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.