Disability-Adjusted Life Years and cost of health loss of hospitalised major trauma cases in New Zealand

Abstract

aims:The aims of this study were to quantify the burden, and the cost of health loss, following hospitalisation for major trauma in New Zealand. method: Hospitalised major trauma patients injured between July 2017 and June 2020 were extracted from the New Zealand Trauma Registry. Case-mix of major trauma in each year was summarised using descriptive statistics. Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) were calculated for the cohort. A cost per DALY was applied to estimate the cost of health loss. results: A total of 6,629 major trauma cases were recorded, rising from 2,072 in 2017-2018 to 2,191 in 2019-2020. The patient casemix remained relatively consistent over the timeframe while the in-hospital mortality rate declined from 9.2% to 7.3%. Hospitalised major trauma patients accrued 22,718 DALYs (average 7,573 DALYs per year