Childbirth-Related Hospital Burden by Socioeconomic Status in a Universal Health Care Setting

Characterizing social and policy determinants of hospital length of stay among paediatric inpatients with diabetes using linked population-based data

Background

Evidence is limited on the non-medical factors influencing hospital length of stay (LOS) among paediatric inpatients with diabetes, notably potential social and policy correlates. This study aimed to characterize the associations of socioeconomic status and health policy environment with diabetes-attributable LOS to help inform accountability monitoring of a provincial comprehensive diabetes strategy aiming to minimize time in hospital among this high-risk population.

Data and methods

This retrospective population-based study drew on multiple linked administrative and geospatial databases among all children aged 18 and under with a diabetes-related hospitalization in the province of New Brunswick, Canada, during the four-year period following implementation of an insulin pump funding program. Multiple linear regression was used to assess the role of access to the public insulin pump resourcing scheme and relative neighbourhood deprivation as predictors of days spent in acute care, controlling for age, sex, and place of residence.

Results

Among the paediatric inpatient population (N = 386), 21% had accessed social resources made available through the insulin pump funding policy and 42% resided in the most materially deprived neighbourhoods. Diabetes-related hospital stays averaged 3.87 days. Paediatric inpatients having accessed resources through the social insurance policy spent significantly fewer days in hospital (1.34 days less [95% CI: 0.63–2.05]) than those who had not, all else being equal. Observed differences in LOS by neighbourhood socioeconomic deprivation were not found to be statistically significant in the multivariate analysis.

Conclusion

Findings from this context of universal medical coverage suggested that public policy for supplemental financing of assistive technologies among children with diabetes may be associated with reduced burden to the hospital system. The causes of socioenvironmental disparities in LOS require further investigation to inform interventions to mitigate preventable patient-level variations in hospital-based health outcomes.

Beyond weight: examining the association of obesity with cardiometabolic related inpatient costs among Canadian adults using linked population based survey and hospital administrative data

BACKGROUND

The global population has transitioned to one where more adults are living with obesity than are underweight. Obesity is associated with the development of cardiometabolic diseases and widely attributed to increased hospital resource use; however, empirical evidence is limited regarding obesity prevention to support hospital cost containment. This study aims to test for obesity in predicting hospitalization costs for cardiometabolic conditions among the Canadian population aged 45 and over.

METHODS

Data from the 2007-2011 Canadian Community Health Survey were linked to eight years of hospital discharge records. A cohort was identified of inpatients admitted for diabetes, hypertension, and other cardiometabolic diseases. Multiple linear regressions were used to investigate the association between obesity status and inpatient costs, controlling for sociodemographic and behavioural factors.

RESULTS

The target cohort included 23,295 admissions for cardiometabolic diseases. Although inflation-adjusted inpatient costs generally increased over time, compared with the non-obese group, living with obesity was not a significant predictor of differences in cardiometabolic-related resource use (0.972 [95% CI: 0.926-1.021]). Being female and rural residence were found to be protective factors.

CONCLUSIONS

Obesity was not found in this study to be independently linked to higher cardiometabolic hospitalization costs, suggesting that actions to mitigate disease progression in the population may be more beneficial than simply promoting weight loss. Results amplified the need to consider gender and urbanization when formulating which levers are most amenable to adoption of healthy lifestyles to reduce impacts of obesogenic environments to the healthcare system.