Hospital Stays Involving Chronic Pulmonary Heart Disease, 2005. Statistical Brief No. 43

摘要

Chronic pulmonary heart disease, or pulmonary hypertension, is a serious cardiac disorder most often caused by lung disease. While almost any chronic lung disease can cause it, the most common cause is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), chronic bronchitis or emphysema. The underlying condition causes vascular congestion, increased pulmonary pressure, decreased cardiac output, and can eventually lead to heart failure. It is important to treat the underlying disease in order to prevent pulmonary heart disease, because once it occurs, it may no longer be reversible by treating the underlying disease. This Statistical Brief presents data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) on hospital stays associated with chronic pulmonary heart disease in 2005. Specifically, this report compares pulmonary heart disease-related hospitalizations to all hospital stays and discusses trends in utilization, cost, and expected payer characteristics. Additionally, it provides information about the most common reasons why patients with pulmonary heart disease as a secondary condition are admitted to the hospital and the impact of pulmonary heart disease on congestive heart failure (CHF) patients. All differences between estimates provided in the text are statistically significant at the 0.05 level or better.