Cohort study of healthcare use, costs and diagnoses from onset to 6 months after discharge for takotsubo syndrome in Sweden

Abstract

ObjectiveLittle is known about the economic impact of takotsubo syndrome (TS) for patients and the health system after initial discharge from hospital. Therefore, the aim of this study was to describe the healthcare resource use and calculate direct healthcare costs for TS, from hospitalisation to 6 months after discharge, and explore the distribution of costs between TS and other diagnoses among patients with TS.Method, participants and settingCohort study investigating direct healthcare costs from hospitalisation, open specialised outpatient and primary care. Healthcare resource use during 6 months after diagnosis with TS was collected for 58 consecutive patients from the Regional Patient Register. Incidence-based direct healthcare costs, in 2015 values, were calculated using diagnosis-related group weights and unit costs from national statistics on healthcare costs.ResultsThe mean length of hospital stay was 10.2 days, index 6.4 and re-admissions 3.8 days. The mean number of follow-up encounters per patient was 15.6, of which two-thirds was specialised outpatient and one-third was primary care. This resulted in an average cost of €10 360. Of this, costs of €8026 (77.5%) occurred during encounters for which at least one of the registered conditions was cardiovascular. Costs differed little according to background characteristics.ConclusionThis study shows that patients utilise hospital, specialised outpatient and primary care after discharge for TS. Most direct healthcare costs relate to cardiac diagnoses. Patients with TS would probably benefit from a supportive follow-up programme after discharge from hospital.

Women's Initial Experiences and up to a Year in Retrospect of Their Life Situation With a Confirmed Takotsubo Syndrome Diagnosis: A Single Case Study Literature Review

“…Medical follow-up after a few months often showed sufficient return of systolic function with normal ejection fraction, and accordingly positive results from a medical-patient care perspective. However, follow-up from a nursing person-centered perspective comprising secondary preventive care in general, and health promotion care in particular, is still inexplicably lacking (Mäenpää et al, 2020; Sundelin et al, 2020; Wallström et al, 2019).…”

“…The person is his/her own expert on the body, mind, and spirit, while best practice managed by cardiac nurses is based on a partnership built on statements representing interaction (Curragh et al, 2020). This is a prerequisite for providing person-centered care to a person with a confirmed TS diagnosis, particularly after a hospital stay, in order to ensure sound recovery and preventive measures (Mäenpää et al, 2020;Sundelin et al, 2020;Wallström et al, 2016bWallström et al, , 2019.…”

Patients’ experiences when afflicted by takotsubo syndrome – is it time for guidelines?

“…Another study has reported that women afflicted by TTS felt reassured through having follow‐up visits to the nurse‐led outpatient heart clinic in the first months (16). Other studies have also recommended that patients with TTS would probably benefit from a supportive follow‐up programme after discharge from hospital because of their reduced physical health (29).…”

Pathophysiology of stress cardiomyopathy: A comprehensive literature review

“…In the US, the hospitalization rate due to TTC increased from 52 cases/million to 178 cases/million adult discharges over six years (i.e., six folds) [ 2 ], with an annual nationwide cost burden exceeding 112$ million for the initial admission and readmission within 1-month [ 3 ]. It was estimated that the average expenditure of care from hospitalization to six months after discharge was 11,491$ per patient [ 4 ]. While the cost for the readmissions was equal to the entire cost of all outpatient and primary care coalesced (€169 739 vs. €170 514) [ 4 ].…”