Hospitalization expenditure and its influencing factors among inpatients with road traffic injuries in Lanzhou city

ObjectiveTo examine the hospitalization expenditure and its influencing factors among inpatients with road traffic injuries in Lanzhou city and to provide references for reducing economic burden of the traffic injuries.MethodsCluster sampling was used to collect 3 599 medical records of traffic injuries inpatients from 1994 to 2008 in two general hospitals in Lanzhou city and to analyze the hospitalization expenditure of the inpatients.ResultsThe average hospitalization expense of the traffic injury inpatients was 5 232.54 RMB Yuan,and the expense for drug,treatment,operation,medical service,and other items was 1 906.85,792.63,785.82,600.60,212.88,and 29.53 Yuan,respectively,accounting for 44.05%,18.31%,18.16%,13.88%,4.92%,and 0.68% of total expense.Multiple linear regression showed that the male,the elderly,long duration of hospitalization,hospitalization in recent years,more days before making a definite diagnosis,serious condition of the injury,with an operation or a rescue treatment,and poor therapeutic effect were associated with higher hospitalization expenditure.ConclusionThe main influencing factors of hospitalization expenditure for traffic injury inpatients in Lanzhou city were time of hospitalization,years of injury incident,disease condition,whether or not having an operation and whether or not having emergency treatment.