Annual costs for pediatric stroke care at least $42 million in United States

The lifetime cost of care for a patient who has a stroke could likely be greater for a child than for an adult, study results suggested.

Researchers examined discharge data from 2,224 patients diagnosed with hemorrhagic or ischemic stroke who were included in the Kids’ Inpatient Database (KID2003). Among those, 1,231 (55%) were discharged with a primary diagnosis of ischemic stroke, 480 (22%) with subarachnoid hemorrhage and 514 (23%) with intracerebral hemorrhage. The researchers also examined costs and length of stay for the patients.

According to univariate analysis, stroke diagnosis and length of hospital stay were both associated with costs (P<.001). The mean cost of acute hospital care was $20,927 per discharge (in 2003 dollars) for a mean length of stay of 8.3 days. In the case of ischemic stroke, the researchers reported a mean length of stay of 6.6 days at a cost of $15,003. The mean length of stay for intracranial hemorrhage was 9.6 days and cost an average of $24,117. A diagnosis of subarachnoid hemorrhage had the longest mean length of stay at 11.2 days and cost an average of $31,653.

The researchers also reported that costs were higher in government/public-owned institutions vs. privately owned institutions ($21,589 vs. $14,082). Costs of pediatric stroke care for urban teaching hospitals ($22,130; 95% CI, 20,025.50-24,234.90) were also higher than those in urban nonteaching hospitals ($14,135; 95% CI, 9,960.79-18,310.03) and rural hospitals ($11,283; 95% CI, 4,612.79-17,953.13).

“Although [$42 million] pales in comparison with adult stroke, pediatric stroke is expensive. The lifetime cost of stroke care may have greater financial impact given the longer life expectancy for a child,” the researchers wrote. “The cost to the family and the larger society can be used as one measure of the effectiveness of current and future treatments.”

Perkins E. Stroke. 2009;doi:10.1161/STROKEAHA.109.548156.