Hydrocephalus in the emergency department: descriptive nationwide data and analysis of transfer

Hydrocephalus is a chronic, treatable, but in most cases incurable condition characterized by long periods of stability punctuated by crises. Patients in crisis usually seek care in an emergency department (ED). How patients with hydrocephalus use EDs has received almost no epidemiological study.

Data were taken from the National Emergency Department Survey for 2018. Visits by patients with hydrocephalus were identified by diagnostic codes. Neurosurgical visits were identified by codes for imaging of the brain or skull or by neurosurgical procedure codes. Visits and dispositions were characterized by demographic factors for neurosurgical and unspecified visits by using methods for analysis of complex survey designs. Associations among demographic factors were assessed using latent class analysis.

There were an estimated 204,785 ED visits by patients with hydrocephalus in the United States in 2018. Roughly 80% of patients with hydrocephalus who visited EDs were adults or elders. By a ratio of 2:1, patients with hydrocephalus visited EDs much more often for unspecified reasons than for neurosurgical reasons. Patients with neurosurgical complaints had more costly ED visits, and if they were admitted they had longer and more costly hospitalizations than did patients with unspecified complaints. Only 1 in 3 patients with hydrocephalus who visited an ED was sent home regardless of whether the complaint was neurosurgical. Neurosurgical visits ended in transfer to another acute care facility more than 3 times as often as unspecified visits. Odds of transfer were more strongly associated with geography and, specifically, with proximity to a teaching hospital than with personal or community wealth.

Patients with hydrocephalus make heavy use of EDs, and they make more visits for reasons unrelated to their hydrocephalus than for neurosurgical reasons. Transfer to another acute care facility is an adverse clinical outcome that is much more common after neurosurgical visits. It is a system inefficiency that might be minimized by proactive case management and coordination of care.