Factors associated with healthcare utilization and mortality in alcohol use disorder hospitalization.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the outcomes of alcohol use disorder (AUD)-hospitalizations.

METHODS

We used the U.S. National Inpatient Sample (NIS) data from 1998 to 2016 to examine predictors of Healthcare utilization (total hospital charges, discharge destination, length of hospital stay) and in-hospital mortality for AUD-hospitalization outcomes. We used logistic regression to assess the association of patient demographics (age, sex, race/ethnicity, household income), comorbidity (Deyo-Charlson index), insurance payer (Medicare, Medicaid, private, self-pay or other), and hospital characteristics (location/teaching status; hospital bed size; and region) with outcomes RESULTS: There were 5,590,952 primary AUD-hospitalizations from 1998 to 2016; of these 106,419 (1.9 %) died in-hospital. The mean age was 48 years, 73 % were male, 59 % white, and 57 % had a Deyo-Charlson comorbidity score of zero. In multivariable-adjusted analyses of AUD-hospitalizations, older age, female sex, higher Deyo-Charlson index, rural location or hospitals with medium or large bed sizes were associated with significantly higher in-hospital mortality and healthcare utilization. Similarly, South or Western U.S. hospital location, White race, or high income quartile were associated with higher healthcare utilization. Compared to a private insurance payer, Medicare or Medicaid insurance payers were associated with higher healthcare utilization, but lower in-hospital mortality.

CONCLUSIONS

We identified several independent associations of modifiable and non-modifiable factors with healthcare utilization and mortality outcomes for AUD-hospitalizations. These findings provide an opportunity for prognosis, resource allocation and the development of interventions to improve outcomes of AUD-hospitalizations in the future.