A retrospective study correlating the prognoses and hospitalization costs of stroke survivors with dysphagia / 中华物理医学与康复杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To seek any correlation between and prognosis and hospitalization costs of stroke survivors with dysphagia.Methods:The records of 1370 stroke survivors admitted to the rehabilitation departments of 3 public hospitals in Weifang were studied. Of them, 499 (36.4%) were diagnosed with dysphagia and 871 were not. Binary logistic regression and multiple linear regression were employed to analyze the correlation between dysphagia and the occurrence of pneumonia, modified Rankin Scale (mRS) scores, modified Barthel index (MBI) scores, length of stay and total hospitalization cost.Results:After adjusting for confounding factors, the risk of pneumonia in the dysphagia group was 2.4 times higher. At discharge, the risk of an mRS≥3 was 3.3 times greater and that of an MBI score <60 was 1.7 times greater with dysphagia. Multiple stepwise linear regression showed that dysphagia was significantly associated with higher mRS scores at discharge, lower MBI scores, and longer hospital stays. The standardized regression coefficients predict that after the length of stay, dysphagia is the strongest predictor of the cost of hospitalisation, followed by ADL ability, pneumonia, supratentorial, haemorrhagic stroke and CCI.Conclusions:Dysphagia is a significant predictor of the hospitalization costs of stroke patients. It is recommended to identify and treat dysphagia as early as possible to improve the prognosis of such patients and reduce the economic burden.