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Study shows changes in hospitalization trends for gout, RA from 1993 to 2011
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During the course of nearly 2 decades, primary hospitalization rates for gout increased substantially while those for rheumatoid arthritis decreased in the United States, according to results.
Researchers studied hospitalization trends of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and gout using data from the 1993 to 2011 releases of the Nationwide Inpatient Sample. Focusing on principle discharge diagnoses to capture hospitalizations for RA and gout, researchers calculated annual population rates of hospitalizations and relevant surgeries. Researchers merged the Nationwide Inpatient Sample charge data with cost-to-charge ratios from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project to calculate inflation-adjusted hospital costs for gout and RA.
Between 1993 and 2011, researchers identified 254,982 hospitalizations for gout and 323,649 hospitalizations for RA. Results showed a decline in the annual hospitalization rate for patients with a principal discharge diagnosis of RA from 13.9 to 4.6 per 100,000 U.S. adults. However, the hospitalization rate for gout increased from 4.4 to 8.8 per 100,000 U.S. adults, according to results. Researchers noted a decline from 8.4 to 2.1 per 100,000 U.S. adults in the annual hospitalization rate for joint operations among patients with a principal discharge diagnosis of RA, while the corresponding surgery rates for gout were 0.09 and 0.17 per 100,000 U.S. adults. According to results, a principal discharge diagnosis of gout had an increase in inflation-adjusted hospital costs per 100,000 U.S. adults from $34,457 to $58,003 and the costs for RA declined from $83,101 to $55,988 from 2001 to 2011.
“Our study findings highlight the critical need to improve gout care to avoid preventable hospitalizations and associated costs, as well as prevention measures to reduce its increasing prevalence in the [United States] U.S.,” Hyon K. Choi, MD, DrPH, director of the Gout and Crystal Arthropathy Center and the Clinical Epidemiology and Health Outcomes at Massachusetts General Hospital, told Healio.com/Rheumatology. – by Casey Tingle
Disclosure: Choi received a research grant from AstraZeneca and serves as a research consultant for Takeda.
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