Hospital stay frequency and duration of patients with advanced cancer diseases ? differences between the most frequent tumour diagnoses: a secondary data analysis

Abstract

The differences in the number and duration of hospital stays of cancer patients in an advanced stage of disease were to be examined with regard to the most frequent cancer diagnoses. Therefore, routinely compiled data of the largest health insurance company in the State of Lower Saxony, Germany, were analysed. Patients with lung, colon, breast and prostate cancer were included, who died in the year of 2004. The parameters of frequency (case numbers) and duration (days) of inpatient hospital stays were examined for the 5-year period of 2000-2004, with special focus on the years 2003/2004. 355 patients were included. On average, the number of inpatient hospital stays amounted to 2.7 cases and 29 days per patient. 87.5% of the hospital stays within the study period occurred in 2003/2004. The patient groups differed significantly both in the average number of cases and in the duration of hospital stays (Kruskal-Wallis test: P<0001), whereby patients with lung cancer underwent inpatient hospital treatment most frequently (3.3 times), and for the longest periods (35 days). This study shows that patients in an advanced stage of lung cancer are a particular important target group for reducing hospitalization at the end of life. They should receive special attention when structures of palliative care are extended.

Inpatient utilization and disparities: The last year of life of adolescent and young adult oncology patients in California

“…Clinical factors associated with increased utilization included admission at specialty centers and hematologic malignancies. This is consistent with international and Medicare studies showing that end-of-life utilization varies with diagnosis, [21][22][23][24][25][26][27] age, 17,26,28 sex, 22,24 race/ethnicity, 22,24 socioeconomic status, 26 and comorbidities. 29 Again, it is unknown whether these disparities are due to patient preference or other factors such as provider preference, local hospice availability, or delayed end-of-life conversations, among others.…”

The health, financial and distributional consequences of increases in the tobacco excise tax among smokers in Lebanon

“…These data, in conjunction with the fact that the Ministry of Public Health covers on average 12% of hospitalizations (UNDP, 1997), are used to obtain total annual hospitalizations for these diagnosis groups. As detailed in Appendix 1 of the supplementary materials, we calculate utilization rates by comparing these imputed total hospitalizations per year for each diagnosis to the prevalence rates of the five disease groups (WHO, 2014a, Jurjus et al., 2009, American Lung Association,, Schneider et al., 2007, American Cancer Society,). We thus obtain disease-specific utilization rates for the whole income scale.…”

Identifying Factors Significant to Continuity in Basic Palliative Hospital Care—From the Perspective of Patients with Advanced Cancer

“…Patients with advanced cancer who do not receive specialized care experience a considerable number and magnitude of health-related problems; this is largely overlooked in primary care (Johnsen, Petersen, Pedersen, & Groenvold, 2009;Kamal et al, 2011). A lack of sufficient palliative care at home as the disease progresses increases the need for emergency hospital admission (Schneider, Dreier, Amelung, & Buser, 2007). Similarly, there is a risk of acute readmission if patients are discharged too early and are not sufficiently prepared to cope at home (Weaver et al, 2006).…”