Number and Costs of Hospitalizations Due to Hypertension and Related Comorbidities and Complications in County-level Healthcare Institutions in a Poverty-stricken County in Henan from 2017 to 2019

Abstract

Background In 2018, the weighted prevalence rate of hypertension among adults aged ≥18 years was 27.5%. Rural areas demonstrated a faster increase in the prevalence rate of hypertension, but lower awareness rate, treatment rate and control rate of hypertension compared with urban areas. Hypertension is the primary risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, and also a major contributor to the disease burden in the population. Understanding the costs of hospitalizations due to hypertension and related comorbidities and complications in rural areas can provide data support for the development of hypertension management and containment strategies in counties. Objective To analyze the costs of hospitalizations due to hypertension and related comorbidities and complications in county-level healthcare institutions. Methods This study selected inpatients with a diagnosis of hypertension via checking the home page of medical records in two county-level hospitals (people's hospital and TCM hospital) of a poverty-stricken county in Henan Province from 2017 to 2019. Patients' clinical information was collected from the medical records, and their healthcare costs were collected from the municipal and county medical insurance information systems. Results A total of 36 565 hospitalizations related information was obtained. During the period, these county-level healthcare institutions had 139 169 hospitalizations in total, 36 565 of them (26.27%) were due to hypertension and related comorbidities and complications. Age, occupational type, marital status, and payment method differed significantly across inpatients due to hypertension and related comorbidities and complications (P<0.05). The severity of disease varied significantly among patients hospitalized due to hypertension and related comorbidities and complications by gender, age, occupational type, marital status, year of admission, and payment method (P<0.05). The average cost of hospitalization due to hypertension and related comorbidities and complications was 7 364.88 yuan in 2017, 6 724.36 yuan in 2018, and 7 134.09 yuan in 2019. And total costs of hospitalizations due to hypertension and related comorbidities and complications in the three years were 62 653 116.87 yuan, 84 394 889.48 yuan and 109 633 058.60 yuan, respectively, showing an increase trend, and the percent of which reimbursed by health insurance was 24.86% in 2017, 31.41% in 2018, and 33.25% in 2019, demonstrating an increasing trend year by year. The average hospitalization expenses, treatment expenses, and drug expenses due to hypertension and related comorbidities and complications differed significantly by year (P<0.05), while the average examination expenses did not (P>0.05). Moreover, the average hospitalization cost, treatment cost, drug cost and examination cost due to hypertension and related comorbidities and complications differed significantly by the severity of disease during the period (P<0.05) . Conclusion In these county-level healthcare institutions during the period, the number of hospitalizations due to hypertension and comorbidities and complications accounted a large percent of the total hospitalizations, and the percentages of relevant hospitalization costs and reimbursed costs showed an increase trend gradually. In view of this, it is suggested to strengthen the standardized management of people with a definite diagnosis of hypertension, enhance the capacities of primary medical institutions in identifying, diagnosing and managing hypertension, and reduce healthcare costs by delaying the progression of hypertension. Moreover, priority should be given to special groups to improve their health status to reduce the disease burden of hypertension, and multiple measures should be taken to improve people's awareness rate of hypertension and self-health management abilities.

Keywords

• hypertension|complications|primary health care institution|hospitalization|fee-for-service, medical|henan