Objective: To determine the composition and influencing factors of hospital expenses of patients undergone laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy (LSG) in an effort to reasonably control the hospital costs and reduce the economic burden of patients.
Method: The inpatient expenses of 574 patients with LSG surgery from January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2022, in a tertiary hospital in China were retrospectively studied. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the composition of inpatient expenses. The mean values between the two groups were compared using the independent t-test, and the mean values between multiple groups were compared using an ANOVA test. The effective results of Mono-factor analysis were further analyzed by multiple linear regression analysis.
Result: (1) The result indicated an upward trend in hospital expenses among LSG patients over the past four years, with an average cost of 53241.87 RMB. The major components of hospital charge were: operation costs of 7109.60 RMB (13.35%) and disposable material costs of 13849.69 RMB (26.01%), accounting for 39.36% of the total hospital costs. (2) The results of multiple linear regression analysis were observed that F=33.478, P<0.05. Gender, complications, number of other diagnoses, year of discharge, age and length of stay were the important factors affecting hospital expenses. Hospitalization expenses were higher for male patients than female patients, which increased as comorbidities, age, postoperative complications, and length of stay increased.
Conclusion: High operation costs and continuously rising material costs contribute to rising hospitalization expenses for LSG patients. Early operation to reduce weight, control of obesity-related comorbidities, reducing postoperative complication risk, reasonable control of hospitalization time, and more effective surgical costs management can significantly reduce hospitalization costs for this patient group.