AHRQ Stats: 'Baby Boomer' Hospital Stays Involving Hepatitis C

Hospital stays involving hepatitis C increased the most – 67 percent – among “Baby Boomers” (ages 52–72) between 2005 and 2014. During the same period, hospital stays involving hepatitis C decreased 15 percent among patients ages 18 to 51. (Source: AHRQ, Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Statistical Brief #232: Characteristics of Inpatient Stays Involving Hepatitis C, 2005-2014.)

Characteristics of Inpatient Stays Involving Hepatitis C, 2005-2014

Quyen Ngo-Metzger, M.D., M.P.H., Iris Mabry-Hernandez, M.D., Kevin C. Heslin, Ph.D., Audrey J. Weiss, Ph.D., Amanda Mummert, Ph.D., and Arlene S. Bierman, M.D., M.S.

Highlights

In 2014, there were 636,900 adult hospitalizations involving hepatitis C. Stays involving hepatitis C only—without co-occurring hepatitis B, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), or alcoholic liver disease (ALD)—increased 48.9 percent between 2005 and 2014.

Average costs, length of stay, and the proportion of in-hospital deaths in 2014 were all higher for stays involving hepatitis C than for stays without hepatitis C.

Black patients and those with Medicaid as the expected payer constituted a higher proportion of stays involving hepatitis C than stays without hepatitis C.

Baby boomers (patients aged 52-72 years) had the highest rate of inpatient stays involving hepatitis C in 2014: 503.1 per 100,000 population versus 155.4 for younger patients and 117.1 for older patients.

The following are comparisons to the national average rate of hepatitis C-related inpatient stays in 2014:
- The Middle Atlantic division had higher rates across all age groups.
- The Mountain and East North Central divisions had lower rates across all age groups.
- The West South Central division had higher rates for baby boomers but lower rates for younger and older patients.
- The New England and East South Central divisions had higher rates for younger patients and lower rates for older patients; the opposite was true in the Pacific division.