Assessment of hospital costs related to the diagnosis and treatment of upper gastrointestinal haemorrhages in patients consuming non steroid anti-inflammatory drugs

Background: non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) can produce haemor rhages of the digestive tract, whose treatment result in significant hospit al costs. Objective: the aim of this analysis has been to estimate hospital costs rel ated to the treatment of digestive haemorrhages potentially caused by the i ntake of NSAIDs. Material and methods: the study was conducted by reviewing the clinical his tory of all patients admitted in two tertiary Spanish hospitals during 1998 due to digestive haemorrhage following NSAID treatment. After the identifi cation of cases, all resources consumed during their hospitalisation (conco mitant medication, complementary examinations and tests, surgery, blood pro ducts consumption, inpatient consultations and length of stay in the hospit al) until the complete resolution of each case, were recorded. Results: thirty-six percent of patients admitted due to digestive haemorrha ge had taken some NSAID the same day of their hospitalisation (85.4%) or in previous days. The cost related to the treatment of these patients amounte d to some 71 million pesetas for both hospitals, with a cost/patient of 434 ,407 pecetas. Conclusions: given the high consumption of NSAIDs in our normal clinical se tting, costs related to the diagnosis and treatment of digestive haemorrhag es in hospitals are a highly significant burden for the National Health Sys tem.