Economic burden attributable to hospital-acquired infections among tumor patients from a large regional cancer center in Southern China

Abstract

Background: To evaluate the economic loss of hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) among tumor patients so as to help policymakers to allocate health care resources and address the issue.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective, 1:1 matched case-control study in a large region cancer hospital between January 1 and December 31, 2022. The economic burden was estimated as the median of the 1:1 pair differences of various hospitalization fees and hospital length of stay (LOS).

Results: In this study of 329 matched pairs, the patients with HAIs incurred higher hospitalization cost (ie, $16,927) and experienced longer hospital LOS (ie, 22 days), compared to the non-HAI groups. The extra hospitalization cost and the prolonged hospital LOS caused by HAIs were $4,919 and 9 days, respectively. Accordingly, the direct nonmedical economic loss attributable to HAI was approximately $478 to 835 per case. Furthermore, the increment of hospitalization costs varied by sites of infection, types of tumors, and stratum of age.

Conclusions: HAIs lead to the increment of direct economic burden and hospital LOS in tumor patients. Our findings highlight the importance of implementing effective infection control measures in hospitals to reduce the financial burden on tumor patients.

Keywords: Economic loss; Hospital length of stay; Hospital-acquired infection; Tumor.