OBJECTIVES

To estimate the average annual volume of cerebro-cardiovascular rehospitalization after Catheter Ablation (CA) procedures in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and the related annual cost using Health Information Systems (HIS) in Italy.

METHODS

From HIS, which collects all information about hospital discharges in Italian hospitals, we selected all acute inpatient hospitalization discharged between 2010 and 2015 with CA procedure (ICD-9-CM 37.34) in patients with diagnoses of AF (ICD-9-CM 427.31) in the same hospitalization or in one of the hospitalizations occurred in the previous 2 years.

Patients were followed up for 1 year from the first CA procedure (index event) to assess the occurrence of hospitalizations for subsequent cerebro-cardiovascular (CCV) events (ICD-9-CM 390.xx-459.xx).

Annual costs of CA procedures and CCV hospitalizations were estimated using national tariffs for hospital services.

RESULTS

Mean annual volume of CA procedure in AF patients in Italy was 8,570 (8,165 patients). Rehospitalization for CA occurred within 12 months from the first event was equal to 8.0% (3.0% within 4 months and 5.0% between 4 and 12 months). The cost per patient of CA hospitalizations was equal to € 5,410 (standard deviation € 155).

In mean, 33.8% of patients had at least one CCV hospitalizations within one year from first CA event. The estimated annual cost per patient related to CCV hospitalizations was equal to € 6,335 (standard deviation € 203) corresponding to € 3,774 per event (standard deviation € 107).

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides real world estimates of the volume of cardiovascular rehospitalization after CA procedures in AF patients and of related economic burden due to subsequent events. The high proportion of rehospitalization and the high cost per event highlights the need to more investigation to assess the impact on Health Care System expenditure.