PHS29 Cost of Treating Patients With Obstructive Sleep Apnea/Hypopnea Sydrome in the Sotiria Chest Hospital in Greece

Abstract

Inpatient admissions and secondary care attendances accounted for 83% of total initiation phase and 64% of total maintenance phase costs. Significant variables contributing to high cost in the initiation phase were co-morbid hypertension and lower patient age, although only accounting for 5% of cost variability. Significant variables in the maintenance phase (18% of cost variability) were co-morbid congestive or structural heart disease and diabetes, and day-care attendances, ECGs and hospitalisations in the initiation phase. Mean maintenance phase costs were higher for patients managed by practices providing anticoagulation services (£555/€676/$865) than patients receiving secondary care anticoagulation (£421/€513/$656, pϭ0.002). CONCLUSIONS: The study confirms that inpatient admissions and secondary care attendances contribute most to total AF management costs. None of the variables analysed accounted for much variability in the total cost of AF management, suggesting that it is often not possible to predict which patients will be high NHS resource users. Future work should focus on how to safely reduce avoidable hospital admissions.