Analysis of Alzheimer disease inpatients in the United States

Abstract Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the commonest dementia, which has no recognized cure. It causes deterioration as it advances, and ultimately results in death. AD was primarily defined by German psychiatric specialist and neuropathologist, Alois Alzheimer. Frequently, AD Alzheimer’s disease is diagnosed in persons above the age of 65 years, even though the less common early-onset of the disease can happen. It is anticipated that more than 3 million individuals aged 85 and more will have Alzheimer's. 33% of Americans over age 85 are burdened with the disease while 5.3 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease. Unless a cure is found, close to 16 million Americans will have the disease by 2050. Alzheimer’s is one of the most expensive diseases. The impact of the disease in the U.S. is the main objective of this study. To study this impact, the length of stay, mortality, and cost will be studied in terms of different patient characteristics and hospital contexts. Method: This study’s main objective was to find the influence of patient characteristics and hospital contexts on three outcomes, namely; length of stay, mortality, and costs. To achieve this objective, The Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) was analyzed after using a filtering method to get a net sample size of 698,170 entries. The sample was obtained for statistical analysis for the six-year period covering 2007-2012. Descriptive and inferential statistic analysis were conducted in order to answer the research questions. Descriptive analysis includes frequencies, mean, and median. Inferential analysis includes multiple and logistic regression and qui-square models were utilized to test the significance of the relationships between independent and dependent variables of the study. Results: Some of the important results found in this study were: 1. The patient characteristics including the age and gender are a highly risk factor of the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease while the race is not a significant risk factor. 2. Alzheimer’s patients who were admitted to the hospital with psychosis on average stayed 2.20 days longer than those without psychosis (p < .001). 3. Alzheimer’s patients who were admitted to the hospital with normal pressure hydrocephalus on average were charged $4569.03 more than those without with normal pressure hydrocephalus (p < .001). 4. Alzheimer’s patients on average were billed $11,895.48 more per procedure performed (p <.001). 5. Alzheimer’s patients who were admitted to the hospital with diabetes were .92 times as likely to die as those without diabetes (not statistically significant). 6. The age group 65 and less has a length of stay of 1.6 more than other patients on other age groups.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Bader F. Alkhamee