OBJECTIVES:

To analyze trends in hospital length of stay, total costs and comorbidities in patients with acute pericarditis.

METHODS: The 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 acute pericarditis. Propensity score matched analysis was conducted to compare hospital LOS and costs in patients with low and high LOS. 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 20490 hospitalizations with a diagnosis of PNH. The mean age was 52.85 (SD 19.64) years and 61% of the patients were male. Payer distribution was 35%, 17% and 39% for Medicare, Medicaid and Private, respectively. The majority of the patients were White (66%), followed by Black (18%) and Hispanic (9%). The mean LOS of 5.74 (SD 7.81) days, with longer LOS for patients covered under Private Payer versus Medicare (8.84 [SD 20.81] and 7 [SD 9.6] days). The total mean hospital charges were $91343, with significantly higher charges for Private Payer versus Medicare ($134020 and $91993, respectively). Approximately 2.34% of the patients died in the hospital. Most common comorbidities were Cardiac Arrhythmias (37%), Hypertension (36%), Renal Failure (16%), Chronic Pulmonary Disease (19%) and Obesity (16%). Approximately 71% of hospitalizations were associated with an emergency department visit.

CONCLUSIONS: Acute pericarditis leads to high resource use and long hospital length of stay. There is a need for better management of patients with acute pericarditis.