Table 3.
Hospital care and costs during 3 months of follow‐up in patients with and without PCT consultation
|
Patients with PCT consultation N = 126 |
Patients without PCT consultation N = 409 |
|
|---|---|---|
| Length of hospital stay (days; median, IQR) | 11 (8–18) | 9 (5–17) |
| Number of hospital admissions (median, IQR) | 1 (1–1) | 1 (1–2) |
| N (%) | N (%) | |
|---|---|---|
| Diagnostic procedures | ||
| Ultrasound | 27 (21) | 90 (22) |
| MRI | 19 (15) | 43 (11) |
| CT‐scan | 68 (54) | 161 (39) |
| Endoscopy | 7 (6) | 41 (10) |
| X‐ray | 66 (52) | 204 (50) |
| ECG | 17 (14) | 44 (11) |
| Gastroscopy | 3 (2) | 21 (5) |
| Blood test | 119 (94) | 384 (94) |
| Urine test | 53 (42) | 113 (28) |
| Therapeutic interventions | ||
| Chemotherapy | 5 (4) | 80 (20) |
| Invasive procedures | 18 (14) | 79 (19) |
| Admission to ICU | 0 (0) | 11 (3) |
| Tube feeding | 5 (4) | 16 (4) |
| Artificial respiration | 0 (0) | 1 (0) |
| Costs (€) | Costs (€) | |
|---|---|---|
| Costs of hospital stay | ||
| Mean (SD) | 6,505 (4,546) | 6,261 (6,263) |
| Median (IQ) | 5,136 (3,544–8,417) | 4,494 (2,568–7,974) |
| Diagnostic costs | ||
| Mean (SD) | 648 (656) | 559 (726) |
| Median (IQR) | 455 (252–878) | 374 (106–719) |
| Costs for therapeutic interventionsa | ||
| Mean (SD) | 1,240 (2,351) | 1812 (3,831) |
| Median (IQR) | 487 (414–726) | 235 (103–2,529) |
| Costs for chemotherapy | ||
| Mean (SD) | 119 (621) | 856 (2,368) |
| Median (IQR) | 0 (0–0) | 0 (0–0) |
| Total hospital costsb | ||
| Mean (SD) | 8,393 (6,358) | 8,631 (8,572) |
| Median (IQR) | 6,296 (4,444–10,483) | 5,647 (3,445–10,826) |
a
Costs for therapeutic interventions include medication costs, costs for other/medical procedure and costs of PCT consultation.
b
Costs of therapeutic interventions include costs of PCT consultation, costs of therapeutic procedures and medication costs. The average medication costs per day were estimated based on a random sample of 43 patients in both groups to be €15 per day for regular medication and €143 per day for expensive medication. We did not find a difference in costs between patients with and without PCT consultation.