Aloran Batoul, Abualoush Zahieh, Ibsaileh Rami, Almadanat Sara, Al-Rabayah Abeer, Nazer Lama
Department of Pharmacy, King Hussein Cancer Center, Amman, Jordan.
Department of Pharmacy, Center for Drug Policy and Technology Assessment, King Hussein Cancer Center, Amman, Jordan.
Support Care Cancer. 2025 May 28;33(6):508. doi: 10.1007/s00520-025-09581-9.
Diarrhea is a common complication that can lead to hospitalization in cancer patients. Few studies evaluated its impact on resource utilization and cost. Our objective was to evaluate the resource utilization and costs associated with hospital admission due to diarrhea in cancer patients.
This was a retrospective study at a comprehensive cancer center in Jordan. We included adult cancer patients with primary admission diagnosis of diarrhea, between January 2022 and December 2023. Patients were identified using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision. Resources evaluated included hospital length of stay and admission to the intensive care unit (ICU). Costs in US$ were estimated based on reports from the finance department, reflecting the payers' perspective, which provided total admission costs, as well as costs of medications, laboratory tests, and procedures. Descriptive analysis was used to report the results.
During the study period, 390 patients were admitted for diarrhea. Mean age was 56 ± 14 (SD) years and 57% were females. Median(IQR) hospital length of stay was 4 (2-7) days, and 34 (9%) patients required ICU admission. The median (IQR) total cost per admission was US$2636 (1441-6132), while median (IQR) cost for ICU admissions was US$10,628(5759-17,235). Laboratory tests had the highest cost, (US$975, 537-1813), followed by medications (US$552, 241-1621) and procedures (US$251, 139-576).
Diarrhea among cancer patients is associated with resource utilization and costs. Laboratory tests and medications accounted for the highest proportion of the cost. Future studies should identify strategies to prevent such complications and to reduce cost.
腹泻是癌症患者常见的并发症，可能导致住院治疗。很少有研究评估其对资源利用和成本的影响。我们的目的是评估癌症患者因腹泻住院所涉及的资源利用和成本。
这是在约旦一家综合癌症中心进行的一项回顾性研究。我们纳入了2022年1月至2023年12月期间因腹泻首次入院诊断的成年癌症患者。使用国际疾病分类第十版识别患者。评估的资源包括住院时间和入住重症监护病房（ICU）情况。以美元计算的成本是根据财务部门的报告估算的，反映了支付方的观点，其中提供了总住院成本以及药物、实验室检查和诊疗程序的成本。采用描述性分析报告结果。
在研究期间，有390例患者因腹泻入院。平均年龄为56±14（标准差）岁，57%为女性。住院时间中位数（四分位间距）为4（2 - 7）天，34例（9%）患者需要入住ICU。每次入院的总费用中位数（四分位间距）为2636美元（1441 - 6132美元），而ICU入院费用中位数（四分位间距）为10628美元（5759 - 17235美元）。实验室检查费用最高（975美元，537 - 1813美元），其次是药物（552美元，241 - 1621美元）和诊疗程序（251美元，139 - 576美元）。
癌症患者的腹泻与资源利用和成本相关。实验室检查和药物占成本的比例最高。未来的研究应确定预防此类并发症和降低成本的策略。
