James J Tucker, MD, Vanita Ahuja, Ted Bell, Rod Grimm
York Hospital
Introduction:
In our clinical experience at a community hospital, we have noticed that there has been a change in demographics over time with younger patients receiving more laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC). The purpose of this study was to determine if LC is increasing in the younger patient population and if any characteristics are associated with the younger age group.
Methods: LC patients were selected from the 1998-2010 NIS database using procedure codes 512.3 and 512.4. Variables of interest were gender (male or female), race (white, black, Hispanic, other), payer (medicare, Medicaid, private or other), hospital bed size (small, medium or large), hospital location (urban or rural), hospital region (northeast, Midwest, south or west), teaching status of hospital (teaching or non-teaching, Charlson score (1, 2, 3 or 4+), and length of stay (in days) and total charges. Ages were categorized into 3 groups: 15-34, 35-54, and 55-74. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the percentage of each age group in the patient population. Chi-squares were run to evaluate characteristics associated with the age groups.
Results: There were 3,757,754 LCs from 1998-2010. Those 35-54 had the highest percentage (38.1%) of LC, followed by 55-74 (34.5%) and 15-34 (27.4%). When considering year, those 35-54 stayed relatively the same, those 55-74 experienced a decline in prevalence of LC, while those 15-34 experience an increase in LC from 24.9% in 1998 to 29.4% in 2010 (Table 1). There is mostly a female (85.8%) and Hispanic (22.3) predominance in the 15-34 group with males (39.3%) and non Hispanic (91.6%) becoming more common with the 55-74 age group. There was an increasing trend in obese Hispanic females from 8.4% in 1998 to 18.2% in 2010. Those 15-35 and 35-54 had a lower length of stay (LOS, 2 days) than those 55-74 (3 days). Those 15-35 had the lowest total charges adjusted for inflation ($19,391.41) followed by 35-54 ($20,294.84) and 55-74 ($22,907.71). Those in the 35-54 were the only ones to experience an increase in LOS from 1998 (2 days) to 2010 (3 days). For all groups, the cost more than doubled from 1998 to 2010 even when adjusted for inflation.
Conclusion: The percentage of younger people having LC is increasing. This may be due to more Hispanic females needing LC.
Session: Poster Presentation
Program Number: P219