Trends in radiotherapy inpatient admissions in Germany: a population-based study over a 10-year period
Autor: | Rainer Fietkau, Dirk Vordermark, Susan Langer, Gunther Klautke, Daniel Medenwald, Florian Würschmidt |
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Jazyk: | angličtina |
Rok vydání: | 2021 |
Předmět: |
medicine.medical_specialty
medicine.medical_treatment Older patients Germany Radiotherapy departments medicine Humans Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging ddc:610 Inpatient cases Reimbursement Diagnosis-Related Groups Research data Inpatients Main diagnosis DRG data business.industry Population based study Radiation therapy Hospitalization Oncology Emergency medicine Radiation Oncology Non-radiotherapy departments Original Article business |
Zdroj: | Strahlentherapie Und Onkologie |
ISSN: | 1439-099X 0179-7158 |
Popis: | Objective With the increasing complexity of oncological therapy, the number of inpatient admissions to radiotherapy and non-radiotherapy departments might have changed. In this study, we aim to quantify the number of inpatient cases and the number of radiotherapy fractions delivered under inpatient conditions in radiotherapy and non-radiotherapy departments. Methods The analysis is founded on data of all hospitalized cases in Germany based on Diagnosis-Related Group Statistics (G-DRG Statistics, delivered by the Research Data Centers of the Federal Statistical Office). The dataset includes information on the main diagnosis of cases (rather than patients) and the performed procedures during hospitalization based on claims of reimbursement. We used linear regression models to analyze temporal trends. The considered data encompass the period from 2008 to 2017. Results Overall, the number of patients treated with radiotherapy as inpatients remained constant between 2008 (N = 90,952) and 2017 (N = 88,998). Starting in January 2008, 48.9% of 4000 monthly cases received their treatment solely in a radiation oncology department. This figure decreased to 43.7% of 2971 monthly cases in October 2017. We found a stepwise decrease between December 2011 and January 2012 amounting to 4.3%. Fractions received in radiotherapy departments decreased slightly by 29.3 (95% CI: 14.0–44.5) fractions per month. The number of days hospitalized in radiotherapy departments decreased by 83.4 (95% CI: 59.7, 107.0) days per month, starting from a total of 64,842 days in January 2008 to 41,254 days in 2017. Days per case decreased from 16.2 in January 2008 to 13.9 days in October 2017. Conclusion Our data give evidence to the notion that radiotherapy remains a discipline with an important inpatient component. Respecting reimbursement measures and despite older patients with more comorbidities, radiotherapy institutions could sustain a constant number of cases with limited temporal shifts. |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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