OBJECTIVES

Bipolar Disorder (BD) is a chronic mental illness that causes profound economic burden on patients, families, and the healthcare system. It is characterized by hypomania and depressive episodes that can cause damage to normal functioning and quality of life. The objective of the study was to examine factors associated with hospitalization among patients with BD.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study of US inpatient data from 1/1/2018-12/31/2018 was conducted. Patients with a primary or secondary diagnosis of BD (ICD-10-CM F31.XX) were identified. Patient demographic and clinical characteristics were assessed between patients with BD and those without. Descriptive and multivariable logistic regression was used to describe the factors that were associated with BD.

RESULTS

There were 8,052,278 hospitalizations of which 246,425 were diagnosed with BD. BD patients were less likely to be married than single (OR 0.548; 0.542-0.553), black than white (OR 0.642; 95%CI 0.634-0.650), indigent than other forms of payers (OR 0.768; 95%CI 0.598-0.987). BD patients were more likely to be non-hispanic (OR 2.046; 95%CI 2.009-2.083) and emergency admissions (OR 1.433; 95%CI 1.369-1.500). Mean costs for inpatients with BD was $11,634 compared to $12,457 for non-BD inpatients (p<0.0001) however length of stay in days was longer for BD patients (5.87 vs 4.60)(p<0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS

BD complicates US hospital admissions, however better understanding factors associated with BD may provide an opportunity to reduce this burden.