Cost of treating influenza in emergency department and hospital settings

To provide an estimate of the costs of treating influenza in emergency department and hospital settings.

Retrospective, descriptive study using patient-level data from the Perspective Comparative Database.

We analyzed clinical and cost data obtained from 75 of the 169 hospitals in the database. These hospitals were located throughout the United States. Patients were included in the study if they visited the emergency department between January 1, 1997, and June 30, 1998, and had a primary diagnosis of influenza.

A total of 1362 patients with influenza visited the emergency department during the study period. Of these, 333 (24.4%) required hospitalization. The mean cost of treatment for patients discharged directly from the emergency department was $141.89; the mean cost of treatment for hospitalized patients was $3251.04. The mean length of stay for hospitalized patients was 4.3 days. Compared with younger patients, elderly patients were more likely to be hospitalized and incur higher costs. Thirty-eight percent of hospitalized patients for whom drug data were available received either amantadine or rimantadine during their stay.

Few data are available documenting resource utilization and associated costs for patients with influenza treated in the emergency department or hospital. Our results represent a significant addition to the identification of the costs associated with the treatment of influenza. This suggests early intervention care aimed at minimizing the impact of influenza, especially in the elderly, could result in decreased hospitalizations and substantial cost savings to managed care.