OBJECTIVES : To compare length of hospital stay (LOS), cost of hospital stay, hospital admission route, discharge disposition and in-hospital mortality between pneumonia patients with Parkinson’s disease (PPD) and without Parkinson’s disease (P).

METHODS : A retrospective, cross-sectional study was performed using 2016 Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, National Inpatient Sample data. Patients 18 and older with ICD-10 of G20 and J09 to J18 or J20 to J22 were classified into PPD group and those with ICD-10 of J09 to J18 or J20 to J22 were classified into P group. Outcomes evaluated were LOS, cost of hospital stay, and in-hospital mortality using the variables LOS, TOTCHG, and DISPUNIFORM. TOTCHG, charges, was converted to cost estimates by multiplying TOTCHG by cost-to-charge ratio. In addition, the two groups (PPD and P) were compared on hospital admission route (‘not transferred in’ or ‘transferred in from other health facility’) and discharge disposition (routine, transfer to other facility, or other) using the variables TRAN_IN and DISPUNIFORM. For LOS, zero-truncated negative binomial analysis was performed. For cost of hospital stay, generalized linear model with a log link function and gamma distributed errors (or a two-part model for zero-inflated cost data) was used. For mortality and hospital admission type, logistic regression was used.

RESULTS : P group had significantly higher cost of hospital stay ($18,300 vs. $15,400). Although differences were not significant, P group had longer LOS (7.23 days±0.04 vs. 7.13±0.10) and lower mortality rate (6.21% vs. 6.57%). Proportion of patients transferred into the hospital and transferred to other health facility after hospital care were significantly higher in PPD group (12.76% vs. 9.43%; 51.44% vs. 27.58%).

CONCLUSIONS : PPD group had lower LOS and cost of hospital stay compared to P group. However, the rate of patients transferred in and out of hospital to another health facility were higher for PPD group.