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. 2019 Jan 18;19(1):47.
doi: 10.1186/s12913-019-3892-9.

High admission rates and heavy inpatient service costs of urban tuberculosis patients in eastern China

Yang Zhou  1 , Cheng Chen  1 , Hui Jiang  2 , Hong-Qiu Pan  3 , Li-Mei Zhu  1 , Wei Lu  4
Affiliations

High admission rates and heavy inpatient service costs of urban tuberculosis patients in eastern China

Yang Zhou et al. BMC Health Serv Res. .

Abstract

Background: Tuberculosis patients often experience hospitalization. Inpatient services may result in high medical expenditures. It is important to explore the hospitalization rates of tuberculosis patients and the potential factors that are associated with admission rates and inpatient service expenditures.

Methods: Data from patients diagnosed and treated at the No.3 hospital of Zhenjiang City from Apr. 2014 to Mar. 2015 were obtained. Univariate and multivariate statistical analyses were applied for the analysis of potential factors associated with admission rates, average length of stay and cost.

Results: A total of 356 tuberculosis patients were treated at the No.3 hospital of Zhenjiang City. A total of 221 of the 356 patients were hospitalized. Sputum smear test results and type of health insurance were the potential factors associated with hospitalization rates. The average admission was (1.26 ± 0.64) per patient. The average length of stay of inpatients was 29.99 ± 25.83 days. Age, occupation, and sputum smear test were related to the average length of stay. The average total cost to inpatients was 13007.91 ± 5205.58 CNY. The sputum smear test results, type of health insurance, occupation and age were the main potential factors associated with TB inpatient expenditures.

Conclusions: The admission rate of tuberculosis patients was high. Despite advances in TB insurance policies, there were substantial costs associated with TB diagnosis and treatment. TB patients still face a heavy financial burden. Health care providers should revise the service package and reform the health insurance regulations to ensure that TB patients receive appropriate care.

Keywords: China; Financial burden; Inpatient; Tuberculosis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and the protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Reference number not appropriate). This study used only routine data and did not involve any human participation; therefore, the application for waiving informed consent was accepted by the Ethics Committee.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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