Healthcare Service Utilization by Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea: A Population-Based Study.
OBJECTIVE
Although obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is not a life-threatening disease, very few studies have compared differences in healthcare service utilization between patients with and those without OSA in an Asian population according to different age groups. This study attempted to investigate differences in healthcare service utilization between patients with and those without OSA in different age groups in Taiwan.


METHODS
Sampled subjects and data on their health service utilization were retrieved from the Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2005. We included 568 patients with OSA and 2840 subjects without OSA. Each subject was followed for a 1-year period to evaluate their healthcare resource utilization. Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney tests were performed to compare differences in healthcare utilization between patients with and those without OSA during the 1-year follow-up period.


RESULTS
As to all healthcare service utilization, patients with OSA had significantly more outpatient visits (30.3 vs. 18.6), outpatient costs (US$1231.2 vs. US$764.8), inpatient days (1.8 vs. 1.2), inpatient costs (US$563.6 vs. US$276.7), and total costs (US$1794.8 vs. US$1041.5) than comparison subjects during the 1-year follow-up period. Moreover, patients with OSA aged 40~49 and 50~59 years respectively incurred 2.11- and 2.02-fold higher total costs compared to patients without OSA. However, patients with OSA aged over 70 years did not have higher total costs compared to those without OSA.


CONCLUSIONS
This study found that patients with OSA had greater healthcare service utilization than those without OSA. Additionally, patients with OSA in the 40~49- and 50~59-year age groups had about 2-fold higher total costs of healthcare services than those without OSA.
Graduate Institute of Life Science, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan; Sleep Research Center, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
Li-Ting
LT
Kao
Sleep Research Center, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Hsin-Chien
HC
Lee
Sleep Research Center, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
Herng-Ching
HC
Lin
Department of Internal Medicine, Cathay General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
Ming-Chieh
MC
Tsai
Sleep Research Center, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; School of Medicine, Fu-Jen Catholic University, Hsingchuang, Taiwan; Department of Surgery, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital, Banciao, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
Shiu-Dong
SD
Chung
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000191:economics*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009819:Office Visits / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D020181:Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / Q000191:economics* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D013624:Taiwan