To examine trends in hospital length of stay and total costs in patients with Crohn’s Disease (CD) and Ulcerative Colitis (UC).

METHODS: The latest available 2016 National Inpatient Sample (NIS) data set from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project was utilized in order to determine the number of hospital admissions for patients with CD and UC (identified by ICD-10 codes K50 and K51). Propensity score matched analysis was conducted to compare hospital LOS and costs in CD and UC. Thirty comorbidities were assessed using Elixhauser scoring. Multivariate logistic regression was conducted to assess predictor variables for LOS and costs.

RESULTS:

In 2016, there were an estimated 209,355 and 124,700 hospitalizations with a diagnosis of CD and UC, respectively. The mean age was 50.1 (SD 19.4) and 54.1 (SD 20.9) in CD and UC patients, respectively. 57.1% and 53.6% were female in CD and UC patients, respectively. Most common comorbidities (more than 10%) were cardiac arrhythmias (CD 14.5%, UC 18.1%), hypertension (CD 29.7%, UC 33.5%), chronic pulmonary disease (CD 20.8%, UC 19.0%), renal failure (CD 11.7%, UC 11.7), weight loss (CD 12.7%, UC 12.6%), electrolyte disorder (CD 35.2%, UC 39.1%) and depression (CD 19.3%, UC 15.8%). The propensity score matched hospital LOS was 5.2 and 5.7, with a statistically significant difference of 0.5 days (SE 0.21, P<0.05), in CD and UC patients, respectively. The propensity score matched hospital charges were $37,563 and $58,210, with a statistically significant difference of $20,647 (SE $2434, P<0.05), in CD and UC patients, respectively. Predictor variables for hospital LOS and costs were chronic pulmonary disease, colorectal cancer, weight loss, ulcer, coagulopathy and anemia.

CONCLUSIONS: Both CD and UC lead to significant number of hospitalizations with relatively long length of stay.