[Economic coverage and average costs related to injuries treated in a hospital].
BACKGROUND
The purpose of this study was to estimate the average costs of injuries and the proportion of total (treatment + social) costs covered when including injuries treated at the hospital.


METHODS
The empirical data consisted of emergency department visits (n = 29,516) from the catchment area of Odense University Hospital in 1992 for all age groups and a representative population sample (n = 1074 injuries) for the age group 15-67 years old. The costs were assessed following the "cost of illness" principles.


RESULTS
The average costs per injured person varied significantly by age and were 26,119 DKK for 68+ years old, 2357 DKK for 15-67 years old, and 1528 DKK for 0-14 years old. The total direct costs for hospital treated persons were 117 million DKK, of which "injuries at home among elderly women" totalled 29% and road traffic injuries 25%. The numerical proportion of hospital treated injuries was 36% (95% CI 32-39%), but in economic terms 92% for treatment costs, and 85% when including social costs.


CONCLUSIONS
The proportion of total regional economic costs is considerably higher (85 or 92%) than in numerical terms for hospital based registration of injuries. Future cost studies can be based on hospital data for the age group 15-67 years old for road traffic injuries. If extrapolated conservatively to all of Denmark (population approx five million) the figures indicate that an amount of approx 2.-2.5 billion DKK per year (2002 level) is spent.
Lauritsen
Jens M
JM
UlykkesAnalyseGruppen ved afdeling O, Odense Universitetshospital, DK-5000 Odense C. uag@ouh.fyns-amt.dk
Kidholm
Kristian
K
Skov
Ole
O
Nørgård
Lasse
L
D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000191:economics*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs; D017721:Hospital Costs; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology