New Dysphagia Data Have Been Reported by Investigators at University Hospital Muenster (Costs of Post-stroke Dysphagia During Acute Hospitalization From a Health-insurance Perspective): Digestive System Diseases and Conditions – Dysphagia

2023 FEB 06 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Researchers detail new data in Digestive System Diseases and Conditions - Dysphagia. According to news reporting originating from Munster, Germany, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Oropharyngeal dysphagia is a common and complication-prone symptom after stroke and is assumed to increase medical expenses. The purpose of this study was therefore to examine acute hospitalization costs associated with post-stroke dysphagia.”

Financial supporters for this research include medical faculty Muenster, ElseKroener-Fresenius-foundation.

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from University Hospital Muenster, “This retrospective study included patients with acute stroke who had been examined by Flexible Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES). Health insurance expenditures were determined for the patient cases according to the 2021 revenue criteria. Multiple linear regression was used to examine predictors of health insurance spending including age, sex, stroke severity, stroke characteristics, comorbidity, therapeutic interventions, duration of artificial ventilation, length of hospital stay, and severity of dysphagia, as assessed by the Fiberoptic Endoscopic Dysphagia Severity Scale (FEDSS), ranging from 1 (best) to 6 (worst). Six hundred seventy four patients (men/women: 367/307; mean age: 71.1 +/- 12.8 years; mean National Institute of Health Stroke Scale: 11.2 +/- 6.2; FEDSS 1/2/3/4/5/6: 113/73/144/119/124/101; mean health-insurance costs 11,521.5 +/- 12,950.5euro) were included in the analysis. Advanced age (p = 0.007; B = 57.6), catheter interventions (p < 0.001; B = 4105.6), tracheotomy (p = 0.006; B = 5195.2), duration of artificial ventilation (p < 0.001; B = 388.6), length of hospital stay (p < 0.001; B = 441.9), and severe dysphagia with an FEDSS of 6 (p = 0.004, B = 2554.3) were independent predictors of increased health insurance expenditures (p < 0.001, R-squared = adjusted-R-squared = 0.83). The results of this study show an association between severe dysphagia and health care costs for acute hospitalization from a health-insurance perspective.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Therefore, therapies that target severe dysphagia with impaired secretion management may have the potential to reduce costs.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Costs of Post-stroke Dysphagia During Acute Hospitalization From a Health-insurance Perspective. European Stroke Journal, 2022. European Stroke Journal can be contacted at: Sage Publications Ltd, 1 Olivers Yard, 55 City Road, London EC1Y 1SP, England.

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Bendix Labeit, University Hospital Muenster, Dept. of Neurology, Inst Translat Neurol, Albert Schweitzer Campus 1, Bldg A1, D-48149 Munster, Germany. Additional authors for this research include Paul Muhle, Inga Claus, Sonja Suntrup-Krueger, Almut Kremer, Tobias Warnecke and Rainer Dziewas.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1177/23969873221147740. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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