Description

In this retrospective US study, the most frequent hospital admissions in people with achondroplasia were neonatal care in children and musculoskeletal in adults. Both the average length of stay and costs were higher for people with achondroplasia compared to the national averages. The overall inpatient cost in 2017 was over $39,600,000.

Patients with achondroplasia often require multiple surgeries over their lifetimes. Beyond the high costs and negative impact on quality of life caused by these surgeries, surgery itself is riskier due to anatomic variations associated with achondroplasia. This retrospective analysis estimated the cost of achondroplasia-associated hospital admissions and outpatient surgeries using 2017 data from two nationally representative databases. Overall, there were There were 1,985 inpatient, and 532 outpatient hospitalisations. The average length of stay was 6.8 days – longer than the US mean by 2.2 days – and total mean inpatient costs were $19,959 – greater than the US mean by $7,789.

Achondroplasia is a serious condition with a wide range of lifelong complications frequently requiring hospitalisation and surgical intervention as well as outpatient care, but additional research is needed to estimate the cost of outpatient care for people with this disease.

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