Inpatient Prevalence, Expenditures, and Comorbidities of Sarcoidosis: Nationwide Inpatient Sample 2013-2014

PurposeTo investigate inpatient prevalence, expenditures, and comorbidities of hospitalized patients with sarcoidosis in the USA.MethodsPatients with sarcoidosis were identified within the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) database for the years 2013 and 2014 using the respective ICD-9 diagnostic code. Data on patient and hospital characteristics, comorbidities, total hospital costs, and total hospitalization charges were collected. A propensity-matched cohort of patients without sarcoidosis from the same database was created and used as comparators for the analysis of comorbidities.ResultsA cohort of 78,055 patients with sarcoidosis was identified within the database, corresponding to an inpatient prevalence of 2.21 cases per 1000 admissions. Analysis of comorbidities found that patients with sarcoidosis had significantly higher odds of atrial fibrillation [adjusted odds ratio (aOR): 1.41, 95% CI 1.13-1.76, p<0.01], conduction abnormalities [aOR: 2.04, 95% CI 1.45-2.89, p<0.01], aortic valvulopathy [aOR: 1.78, 95% CI 1.30-2.44, p<0.01], congestive heart failure [aOR: 1.23, 95% CI 1.04-1.45, p=0.02], cardiomyopathy [aOR: 1.25, 95% CI 1.08-1.44, p<0.01], deep venous thrombosis (aOR: 1.58, p<0.01), pulmonary embolism (aOR: 1.70, p<0.01), and osteoporosis (aOR: 1.81, p<0.01), compared with propensity-matched patients without sarcoidosis. After adjusting for confounders, patients with sarcoidosis displayed a mean additional $1,250 (p=0.24) in total hospital costs and a mean additional $27,205 (p<0.01) in total hospitalization charges when compared to hospitalized patients without sarcoidosis.ConclusionsThe inpatient prevalence of sarcoidosis was relatively high compared with its overall incidence. Hospitalization of patients with sarcoidosis was associated with a significantly higher total hospitalization charges compared to hospitalized patients without sarcoidosis. Patients with sarcoidosis have a higher risk of several cardiac comorbidities.