National trends in heart failure hospital stay rates, 2001 to 2009.

Chen J, Dharmarajan K, Wang Y, Krumholz HM.

Source

Kaiser Permanente, Mid-Atlantic Permanente Research Institute, Rockville, Maryland 20852, USA. jersey.chen@kp.org

Abstract

OBJECTIVES:

This study sought to analyze recent trends over time in heart failure (HF) hospital stay rates, length of stay (LOS), and in-hospital mortality by age groups with a large national dataset of U.S. hospital discharges.

BACKGROUND:

Heart failure hospital stay rates, LOS, and mortality have fallen over the past decade for older Medicare beneficiaries, but whether this holds true for younger adults is unknown.

METHODS:

From the National Inpatient Sample, we calculated HF hospital stay rates, LOS, and in-hospital mortality from 2001 to 2009 with survey data analysis techniques.

RESULTS:

Hospital stays (n = 1,686,089) with a primary discharge diagnosis of HF were identified from National Inpatient Sample data between 2001 and 2009. The overall national hospital stay rate decreased from 633 to 463 hospital stays/100,000 persons, (-26.9%, p-for-trend <0 -27.4="" .001="" 0.001="" 18="" 3.3="" 4.5="" 44="" 45="" 55="" 64="" 65="" 74="" 75="" a="" age="" analyses="" and="" black="" but="" decline="" declines="" did="" exhibit="" fell="" for="" from="" hf="" hospital="" however="" in-hospital="" in="" los="" men="" mortality="" not="" observed="" of="" older.="" only="" or="" over="" overall="" p-for-trend="0.43).</p" p="0.04)." patients="" rate="" relative="" secondary="" significant="" statistically="" stay="" time="" to="" were="" white="" women="" years="">

CONCLUSIONS:

Younger patients have not experienced comparable declines in HF hospital stay, LOS, and in-hospital mortality as older patients. Black men remain a vulnerable population for HF hospital stay.
Copyright © 2013 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.