Impact of Inpatient Metastatic Thyroid Cancer on the United States Healthcare System

Abstract

Specific Aims: To assess associations between clinical and economic outcomes of metastatic thyroid cancer within inpatient settings in the United States from 2001-2010. To determine the direct inpatient burden of and describe the characteristics of patients and hospitals associated with metastatic thyroid cancer. Methods: A multivariate retrospective cohort study was performed on the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project-Nationwide Inpatient Sample database, for the years 2001-2010, focusing on three main outcomes: inpatient mortality, inpatient charges, and inpatient length of stay. Regression analyses controlled for patient demographics, hospital characteristics, payer, clinical comorbidities, and site of metastases. Inclusion criteria included: age ≥ 18 years, any listed diagnosis of thyroid cancer, and any listed secondary malignancy. Main Results: Overall, 84,191 inpatient cases were observed for metastatic thyroid cancer with 3,032 resulting in mortality (3.6%). The total charges were $3.1 billion (USD 2012) for overall inpatient hospitalizations with average inpatient charges at $38,292 (SD±56,135) for each overall case and $80,948 (SD±117,645) for each mortality-only case. Higher inpatient mortality, charges, and length of stay were significantly associated with central nervous system and lung metastatic cancer sites (p < 0.01) and deficiency anemias, coagulopathy, fluid and electrolyte disorders, pulmonary circulation disorders, and weight loss comorbidities (p < 0.01). Conclusion: There is a considerable national inpatient burden of metastatic thyroid cancer. The analyses in this study quantify the associations and outcomes, and as such can be used to assist in the prediction of those outcomes and clinical decision-making.