The economic burden of burned patients for hospitalization in Canada

Burn injuries pose a significant burden on both patients and healthcare systems. Yet, costs arising from the consumption of resources by these patients are rarely examined in Canada.

The objective of this study was to assess real-world costs resulting from the initial hospitalization of patients admitted to a major burn unit in Quebec, Canada.

A cost study based on a retrospective cohort was undertaken using in-hospital economic data matched to hospital chart data. Our cohort included all burn-injured patients admitted between April 1, 2017, and March 31, 2021, to the hospital's major burn unit during their initial hospitalization. Descriptive statistics were tabulated for sociodemographic and economic data. Costing data were analyzed unstratified and stratified according to burn severity (i.e., ≥ 20% of total body surface area [TBSA] vs. < 20%). Costs were presented in CAD 2021.

Our cohort included 362 patients, including 65 (18%) with TBSA ≥ 20%. The average initial hospitalization cost was $32,360 ($22,783 for < 20% TBSA and $76,121 for ≥ 20% TBSA).

Findings reveal that the total cost of the initial hospitalization, from a public hospital perspective, was $11,714,348. Our study underlines the substantial burden associated with burns and highlights the need for long-term cost evaluations.