Hospital inpatient care utilization among patients with tuberculosis, Republic of Ireland, 2015–2018.
Background
The Republic of Ireland (ROI) has a low incidence of TB. A reform of TB services in 2003 recommended that the delivery of care to patients with TB should primarily be in the outpatient setting, with limited indications for hospitalization. Three hospitals were designated as TB centres. Our aim was to describe the utilization of hospital inpatient care by patients with TB in the ROI.
Methods
We searched public hospital coding data to identify discharges between 01/01/2015-31/12/18 where TB was the principal diagnosis. The cost of TB episodes of care was calculated using payment rules for public hospitals in the ROI.
Results
We identified 1185 discharges with TB as the principal diagnosis. Of these, 68% (801/1185) were emergency episodes of care and 32% (384/1185) were elective. We estimate that 65.1% (818/1257) patients with TB notified in the ROI from 2015 to 2018 who had an episode of care in a public hospital was 65.1% (818/1257) and that 50.8% (639/1257) of those notified had an emergency episode of care. The estimated mean annual cost of TB inpatient care per year in the ROI from 2015 to 2018 was €2,638,828–2,955,047, with emergency episodes of care having a mean annual cost of €2,250,926–2,557,397 per year.
Funding
Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.
History
Comments
The original article is available at https://journals.plos.orgPublished Citation
O'Connell J, de Barra E, McConkey S. Hospital inpatient care utilization among patients with tuberculosis, Republic of Ireland, 2015-2018. PLoS One. 2020;15(8):e0238142.Publication Date
27 August 2020External DOI
PubMed ID
32853220Department/Unit
- International Health and Tropical Medicine
- Beaumont Hospital
Research Area
- Population Health and Health Services
- Immunity, Infection and Inflammation
Publisher
PLOS ONEVersion
- Published Version (Version of Record)
