ABSTRACT
Objective • To understand the structural changes and related reasons of the average cost of hospitalization of childhood pneumonia in Shanghai, and to propound related policy suggestion. Methods • New grey correlation and degree of structural variation analysis were used to research the average cost of hospitalization of 22 543 children with pneumonia from 2015 to 2018 in a children's specialized hospital in Shanghai. The average cost included 5 categories, i.e. medicine cost, material cost, examination and laboratory cost, labour cost and bed occupation cost. The relational degree and structural changes between each average cost and the average cost of hospitalization were discussed. Results • The new grey correlation analysis showed that the relational degree sort order of each average cost from the highest to the lowest were average examination and laboratory cost (γ3=1.000 0), average medicine cost (γ1=0.862 5), average bed occupation cost (γ5=0.845 1), average labour cost (γ4=0.796 8) and average material cost (γ2=0.786 3). The degree of structure variation analysis showed that the contribution rate of structure variation (CSV) sort order of each average cost in 2015-2018 from the highest to the lowest were average medicine cost (CSV1=36.22%), average bed occupation cost (CSV5=27.65%), average examination and laboratory cost (CSV3=13.91%), average material cost (CSV2=13.78%) and average labour cost (CSV4=8.44%). The average medicine cost and average material cost were negative variation. Conclusion • The average examination and laboratory cost and average medicine cost are the main factors that influenced the average cost of hospitalization of childhood pneumonia. The proportion of the average labour cost is relatively low. It is suggested that the cost structure like raising labour charges and optimizing diagnosis and treatment process should be further adjusted in order to control the growth of medical costs.