Impact of population ageing on the costs of hospitalisations for cardiovascular disease: a population-based data linkage study.
BACKGROUND
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the most costly disease in Australia. Measuring the impact of ageing on its costs is needed for planning future healthcare budget. The aim of this study was to measure the impact of changes in population age structure in Western Australia (WA) on the costs of hospitalisation for CVD.


METHODS
All hospitalisation records for CVD occurring in WA in 1993/94 and 2003/04 inclusive were extracted from the WA Hospital Morbidity Data System (HMDS) via the WA Data Linkage System. Inflation adjusted hospitalisation costs using 2012 as the base year was assigned to all episodes of care using Australian Refined Diagnosis Related Group (AR-DRG) costing information. The component decomposition method was used to measure the contribution of ageing and other factors to the increase of hospitalisation costs for CVD.


RESULTS
Between 1993/94 and 2003/04, population ageing contributed 23% and 30% respectively of the increase in CVD hospitalisation costs for men and women. The impact of ageing on hospitalisation costs was far greater for chronic conditions than acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and stroke.


CONCLUSIONS
Given the impact of ageing on hospitalisation costs, and the disparity between chronic and acute conditions, disease-specific factors should be considered in planning for future healthcare expenditure.
Department of Community Health, Institute of Public Health at Ho Chi Minh City, 159 Hung Phu street, District 8, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. ninh.ha05@gmail.com.
Ninh Thi
NT
Ha
School of Public Health, Curtin University, Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. d.v.hendrie@curtin.edu.au.
Delia
D
Hendrie
Faculty of Health Science, Curtin University, Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. R.moorin@curtin.edu.au.
Rachael
R
Moorin
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000191:economics* / Q000628:therapy*; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000191:economics*; D005260:Female; D017721:Hospital Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020521:Stroke / Q000191:economics; D014904:Western Australia