Economic losses caused by healthcareassociated lower respiratory tract infection in kidney transplant patients

Abstract:

ObjectiveTo investigate the economic losses in kidney transplant patients with healthcareassociated lower respiratory tract infection(LRTI). MethodsAll transplant patients in a hospital from 2008 to 2012 were investigated, patients with LRTI were in infection group(n=45) , and patients without LRTI were in control group(n=266) , hospitalization expenses and hospitalization days between two groups were compared. ResultsA total of 383 kidney transplant patients were included in the study, the incidence of LRTI was 11.75% (n=45), median expense of infection group and control group was  ￥79 291.82 and  ￥72 185.14 respectively, the difference was not statistically significant (P>0.05). The largest increased expense in patients with LRTI was medicine ( increased by ￥5 429.82) , medicine and examination expense in infection group were significantly higher than control group (￥39 123.17 vs ￥33 693.35; ￥702.52 vs  ￥593.73; P<0.05).The median  hospitalization days in infection group and control group was  28.38 days and 21.47 days respectively，there was significant difference between two groups（P＜0.05）.  ConclusionKidney transplant patients with LRTI suffer from a heavy financial burden, and their hospitalization days are prolonged, so measures should be taken to prevent the occurrence of LRTI and save limited medical resources.

Key words:

kidney transplant; lower respiratory tract infection; healthcareassociated infection; economic loss