[The cost of hospitalizing patients with AIDS in Bordeaux]

The study deals with the infectious diseases department of the university hospital of Bordeaux where most of the AIDS patients in south western France are admitted. In 1986, the department counted 64 admissions (and readmissions) from 35 AIDS patients and 1376 admissions (and readmissions) from 707 other patients. Taking into account admissions of AIDS patients into other hospital departments, the average cost of a hospital day of an AIDS patient was estimated at 1815 French francs in 1986. The length of stay, per AIDS patient and per year, was of 31.5 days in Bordeaux (1986), as compared to 18 days in San Francisco, USA (1984) and 33 days in the Massachusetts, USA (1984). In Bordeaux, the length of stay for other patients in the same department was 17 days. The consumption of diagnostic-related biological exams of AIDS patients in Bordeaux was twofold that of other patients. Per capita, overall hospital costs incurred by AIDS patients increased by 56 percent, as compared to other patients. For the time being, there is no need to build a new department, the existing facilities being sufficient to cope with the AIDS epidemic. If a new department has to be established, the hospital cost of AIDS patients would of course be much higher.