Circulatory diseases accounted for one out of every six hospital stays--the most prevalent reason for hospitalization in 2004 with the exception of pregnancy and childbirth, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The hospitalization costs for these diseases were $71.2 billion, or one-fourth of the total cost of hospital care in the United States. The mean length of stay was 4.5 days--the same length of stay for all conditions combined--and more patients died in the hospital with these diseases (3.3%) than all other patients, who had an average in-hospital death rate of 2.1%.
The average cost per hospitalization for circulatory diseases was 41% higher than for other conditions ($10,800 versus $7,700). Medicare was the payer for more than half of all hospitalizations for circulatory diseases. Coronary atherosclerosis was the most common circulatory disease requiring hospitalization in 2004 (3.1% of all admissions), followed by congestive heart failure (2.9% of admissions). Read the briefing.
