PIN178 Impact of Selected Comorbidities on Healthcare Resource Utilization Among Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19 in a US Population

ABSTRACT

Objectives: Various comorbidities have been found to be associated with the severity of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but data on their healthcare resource implications are limited. This study sought to characterize length of stay (LOS) and charges associated with COVID-19 related inpatient (IP) visits by selected baseline comorbidities using a large, multi-hospital US database. Methods: The Premier Healthcare Database COVID-19 from 2019/01/01 through 2020/05/24 was used to identify patients with an IP visit including a COVID-19 diagnosis and with ≥1 encounter for any reason during the 12 months (baseline) prior to the IP visit start (index). The outcomes were LOS and total charges (medical and medication) associated with the index IP visit. The baseline comorbidities included coronary artery disease, chronic kidney disease (CKD), chronic lung disease (CLD), diabetes, liver disease and immune-suppressing diseases, along with the total number of these conditions. Continuous variables were summarized using the mean, median and standard deviation (SD) and categorial variables using percentages. Results: The study included 10,948 patients (mean age=63.6 years;females=50.7%) with 40.9% having none of the baseline comorbidities, 28.5% with one, 16.7% with two, 9.4% with three and 4.4% with four or more. The most prevalent comorbidities were diabetes (31.1%), CKD (23.2%) and CLD (22.3%). The mean LOS was 8.6 days (median=7.0, SD=8.1) and the median of total charges was $44,123 (mean=$75,917, SD=$103,651). The longest mean LOS was for patients with immune suppressing diseases (10.1 days) and the highest median charges was for patients with liver disease ($56,778). Both mean LOS and median charges increased with greater number of comorbidities (zero=8.1, $37,445;one=8.7, $44,098;two=9.0, $51,642;three=9.4, $55,943;four or more=10.1, $62,257). Conclusions: Our findings show that LOS and charges associated with COVID-19 related IP visits increase with the number of selected comorbidities. This is consistent with other reports showing these conditions also increase mortality.