Health care service utilization among patients with bladder pain syndrome/interstitial cystitis in a single payer healthcare system.
BACKGROUND
This study aims to investigate the differences in the utilization of healthcare services between patients with bladder pain syndrome/interstitial cystitis (BPS/IC) and patients without using a population-based database in Taiwan.


METHODS
This study comprised of 350 patients with BPS/IC and 1,750 age-matched controls. Healthcare resource utilization was evaluated in the one-year follow-up period as follows: number of outpatient visits and inpatient days, and the mean costs of outpatient and inpatient treatment. A multivariate regression analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between BPS/IC and total costs of health care services.


RESULTS
For urological services, patients with BPS/IC had a significantly higher number of outpatient visits (2.5 vs. 0.2, p<0.001) as well as significantly higher outpatient costs ($US166 vs. $US6.8, p<0.001) than the controls. For non-urologic services, patients with BPS/IC had a significantly high number of outpatient visits (35.0 vs. 21.3, p<0.001) as well as significantly higher outpatient cots ($US912 vs. $US675, p<0.001) as compared to the controls. Overall, patients with BPS/IC had 174% more outpatient visits and 150% higher total costs than the controls. Multiple-regression-analyses also showed that the patients with BPS/IC had significantly higher total costs for all healthcare services than the controls.


CONCLUSIONS
This study found that patients with BPS/IC have a significantly higher number of healthcare related visits, and have significantly higher healthcare related costs than age-matched controls. The high level of healthcare services utilization accrued with BPS/IC was not necessarily exclusive for BPS/IC, but may have also been associated with medical co-morbidities.
Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital, Ban Ciao, Taipei, Taiwan ; Sleep Research Center, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
Shiu-Dong
SD
Chung
Department of Urology, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.
Shih-Ping
SP
Liu
School of Health Care Administration, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Hsien-Chang
HC
Li
Sleep Research Center, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan ; School of Health Care Administration, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Herng-Ching
HC
Lin
D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000191:economics* / Q000628:therapy; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D018856:Cystitis, Interstitial / Q000191:economics* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D018855:Single-Payer System; D013624:Taiwan; D014573:Urology Department, Hospital / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult