Effect of an episode of critical illness on subsequent hospitalisation: a linked data study

• Published in: Anaesthesia 2010-02, Vol.65 (2), p.172-177
• Main Authors: Williams, T. A., Knuiman, M. W., Finn, J. C., Ho, K. M., Dobb, G. J., Webb, S. A. R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Age Distribution; Aged; Anesthesia; Anesthesia. Intensive care medicine. Transfusions. Cell therapy and gene therapy; Biological and medical sciences; Critical care; Critical Illness - epidemiology; Critical Illness - therapy; Epidemiologic Methods; Female; Health services utilization; Hospitalization; Humans; Length of Stay - statistics & numerical data; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Patient Acceptance of Health Care - statistics & numerical data; Patient Discharge; Patient Readmission - statistics & numerical data; Prognosis; Western Australia - epidemiology; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0003-2409; 1365-2044
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2044.2009.06206.x

Summary Healthcare utilisation can affect quality of life and is important in assessing the cost‐effectiveness of medical interventions. A clinical database was linked to two Australian state administrative databases to assess the difference in incidence of healthcare utilisation of 19 921 patients who survived their first episode of critical illness. The number of hospital admissions and days of hospitalisation per patient‐year was respectively 150% and 220% greater after than before an episode of critical illness (assessed over the same time period). This was the case regardless of age or type of surgery (i.e. cardiac vs non‐cardiac). After adjusting for the ageing effect of the cohort as a whole, there was still an unexplained two to four‐fold increase in hospital admissions per patient‐year after an episode of critical illness. We conclude that an episode of critical illness is a robust predictor of subsequent healthcare utilisation.