Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
24
pubmed:dateCreated
1988-6-29
pubmed:abstractText
To determine whether the hospital stays are longer and charges within a given diagnosis-related group (DRG) are higher for poor patients, we examined patterns of care for patients hospitalized at the Brigham and Women's Hospital for connective-tissue disorders (DRGs 240 and 241) from 1981 to 1985. The socioeconomic characteristics of 402 patients were determined through interviews, and the severity of their illness was measured by means of a standard scale of function--the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) scale. After excluding outliers and adjusting for DRG, we found that hospital stays were significantly longer for subgroups of patients of lower socioeconomic status, whether this was defined by occupation, education, or income (P less than 0.05 for all three). Patients of low socioeconomic status also had higher total hospital charges, although the differences were not statistically significant. The differences between patients of low socioeconomic status and those of high socioeconomic status were as great as 25 percent for length of stay and 16 percent for charges. These trends persisted after we adjusted for patients' age and sex, the severity of illness, the year of discharge, the doctor's specialty, whether the patient had a regular doctor, and whether the patient lived alone. Our results suggest that for at least some conditions, hospital care for poor patients entails longer stays and probably requires the use of more resources.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
AIM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Jun
pubmed:issn
0028-4793
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:day
16
pubmed:volume
318
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
1579-85
pubmed:dateRevised
2007-11-15
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed-meshheading:3131674-Activities of Daily Living, pubmed-meshheading:3131674-Adolescent, pubmed-meshheading:3131674-Adult, pubmed-meshheading:3131674-Aged, pubmed-meshheading:3131674-Boston, pubmed-meshheading:3131674-Child, pubmed-meshheading:3131674-Collagen Diseases, pubmed-meshheading:3131674-Diagnosis-Related Groups, pubmed-meshheading:3131674-Education, pubmed-meshheading:3131674-Fees and Charges, pubmed-meshheading:3131674-Female, pubmed-meshheading:3131674-Hospital Bed Capacity, 500 and over, pubmed-meshheading:3131674-Hospitals, University, pubmed-meshheading:3131674-Humans, pubmed-meshheading:3131674-Income, pubmed-meshheading:3131674-Interviews as Topic, pubmed-meshheading:3131674-Length of Stay, pubmed-meshheading:3131674-Male, pubmed-meshheading:3131674-Middle Aged, pubmed-meshheading:3131674-Occupations, pubmed-meshheading:3131674-Severity of Illness Index, pubmed-meshheading:3131674-Socioeconomic Factors
pubmed:year
1988
pubmed:articleTitle
The association of patients' socioeconomic characteristics with the length of hospital stay and hospital charges within diagnosis-related groups.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't