The following is a summary of “Trends of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) Inpatients Mortality and Financial Burden From 2011 to 2017 A Nationwide Analysis,” published in the January 2024 issue of Gastroenterology by Wakil, et al.
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a type of liver cancer, is the seventh most common type of tumor in the world. It was previously known that the cost of HCC in the US increased from 2002 to 2011. For a study, researchers sought to look at how hospitalizations for HCC have changed over time. The National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database was used for this retroactive study. It was possible to find all the people who were admitted between 2011 and 2017 and were diagnosed with HCC. The main trend features were death rates in hospitals, hospital costs, and length of stay.
It was found that the number of hospital patients went up from 67,779 (0.18%) in 2011 to 84,580 (0.23%) in 2017 (P<0.05). The median age of the patients was 45 to 64 years old, and most of them were guys (68%) (P<0.05). Medicare (median 49%) and Medicaid (18%) paid for most of the health care (P<0.05). The south was the most popular place to live (median 36%) (P<0.05). Most admitted patients were from cities and went to big hospitals (62% of the total). In 2017, the median death rate for inpatients was thought to be 9% (P<0.05). This is down from 10% (P<0.05) in 2011. The total fees for each entry gradually increased from $58,406 in 2011 to $78,791 in 2017 (P<0.05). In 2011, the median time of stay was 5.79 days (SD = 6.93). In 2017, it was 6.07 days (SD = 8.3) (P<0.05). Sepsis, acute kidney failure, and GI bleeding were the most common things that put people at risk of dying.
The number of entries linked to HCC was going up. Over the years, the death rate from HCC has gone down as faster findings and better treatments have become available. However, they saw a big rise in the financial load on health care as in-hospital prices went up. This is something that needs to be confirmed in future studies.
Source: journals.lww.com/jcge/abstract/2024/01000/trends_of_hepatocellular_carcinoma__hcc_.14.aspx
