Published online Feb 26, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i6.1271
Peer-review started: August 13, 2020
First decision: November 23, 2020
Revised: December 3, 2020
Accepted: December 16, 2020
Article in press: December 16, 2020
Published online: February 26, 2021
With the aging world population the incidence of falls has intensified and hospitalization costs are increasing. Falls are one type of event studied in the health economics of patient safety.
Many developed countries have conducted research on fall-related hospitalization costs. However, China, a developing country, still lacks large-sample studies.
The aim of the study was to investigate the composition and factors related to the hospitalization costs of fall-related injuries in elderly inpatients and establish factor-based, cost-related groupings to provide a basis for the rational economic control of hospitalization costs.
Quantile regression (QR) analysis was used to identify the factors related to fall-related hospitalization costs. A decision tree model based on the chi-squared automatic interaction detector algorithm for hospitalization cost grouping was built by setting the factors in the regression results as separation nodes.
The total hospitalization cost of fall-related injuries in the elderly patients investigated was 180479203.03 RMB. The cost grouping model was established based on the QR results, and patient age, length of stay, operation type, wound position and wound type were the most important influencing factors in the model.
Our grouping model of hospitalization costs clearly reflects the key factors affecting hospitalization costs and is meaningful for strengthening the reasonable control of these costs.
This was a retrospective study; hence, a prospective large-scale multicenter study is still required.