Predictors of Regional Variations in Hospitalizations Following Emergency Department Visits for Atrial Fibrillation




The emergency department (ED) is often where atrial fibrillation (AF) is first detected and acutely treated and affected patients dispositioned. We used the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample to estimate the percentage of visits resulting in hospitalization and investigate associations between patient and hospital characteristics with hospitalization at the national and regional levels. We conducted a cross-sectional study of adults with AF listed as the primary ED diagnosis in the 2007 to 2009 Nationwide Emergency Department Sample. We performed multivariate logistic regression analyses investigating the associations between prespecified patient and hospital characteristics with hospitalization. From 2007 to 2009, there were 1,320,123 weighted ED visits for AF, with 69% hospitalized nationally. Mean regional hospitalization proportions were: Northeast (74%), Midwest (68%), South (74%), and West (57%). The highest odds ratios for predicting hospitalization were heart failure (3.85, 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.66 to 4.02), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (2.47, 95% CI 2.34 to 2.61), and coronary artery disease (1.65, 95% CI 1.58 to 1.73). After adjusting for age, privately insured (0.77, 95% CI 0.73 to 0.81) and self-pay (0.77 95% CI 0.66 to 0.90) patients had lower odds compared with Medicare recipients, whereas Medicaid (1.21, 95% CI 1.11 to 1.32) patients tended to have higher odds. Patients living in low-income zip codes (1.18, 95% CI 1.12 to 1.25) and patients treated at large metropolitan hospitals (1.75, 95% CI 1.59 to 1.93) had higher odds. In conclusion, our analysis showed considerable regional variation in the management of patients with AF in the ED and in associations between patient socioeconomic and hospital characteristics with ED disposition; adapting best practices from among these variations in management could reduce hospitalizations and health-care expenses.


Atrial fibrillation (AF) affects from 3 to 6 million Americans, with estimated national incremental health-care costs ranging from $6 to $26 billion per year. The emergency department (ED) is often where AF is first detected and acutely treated and affected patients dispositioned. ED visits for AF increased by 88% from 1993 to 2004, with 64% of these visits resulting in hospitalization. Understanding factors that influence hospitalization may result in more informed acute AF management. Specifically, our health-care system may benefit from a greater knowledge of how health-care disparities impact the significant United States (US) regional variation in hospitalizations for AF. The frequency of ED visits for AF, national and regional AF hospitalizations, and ED cardioversions have not been studied after the publication of the 2006 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association/European Society of Cardiology guidelines. We used the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS) to investigate age-specific ED visit rates for AF, percentage of ED visits resulting in hospitalization, as well as associations between specific patient and hospital characteristics with hospitalization at the national and regional levels.


Methods


NEDS is a US administrative database maintained by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality as a component of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project. NEDS contains data from 25 to 30 million unweighted hospital-based ED visits annually, representing about 20% of all US visits. NEDS includes data from approximately 29 states and stratifies the data by geographic region (Northeast, Midwest, South, and West), trauma center designation, urban-rural status, teaching hospital status, and ownership. The NEDS database includes weights for calculating national estimates from the 20% sample of measured ED visits. NEDS consists of 4 files: (1) a core file including demographic, diagnostic, ED charges, and disposition data, (2) a supplemental ED file with ED procedures, (3) an inpatient file with hospital procedures for those admitted, and (4) a hospital file describing the characteristics of the hospital-based ED. For each ED encounter, NEDS reports ≤15 diagnoses coded according to their respective International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-9 codes. NEDS also classifies each ICD-9 diagnosis as a nonchronic or chronic condition based on a validated algorithm.


We conducted a cross-sectional study of adults with AF, identified by the ICD-9 code 427.31 listed as the primary ED diagnosis from 2007 to 2009. We limited our analysis to the 3 years after publication of the 2006 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association/European Society of Cardiology guidelines for the Management of Patients with AF. All outcomes referring to hospitalizations included visits in which the patient was admitted to the same hospital or transferred to a short-term acute care hospital. We calculated annual incidences of ED visits for AF from 2007 to 2009, percentages of ED visits for AF resulting in hospitalization, and the percentage of visits associated with ED or inpatient electrical cardioversions. We further stratified these incidences by US geographic region and age groups defined by the US census. We documented ED cardioversion frequencies to determine whether regional variation in hospitalization may be explained by increased frequency of ED cardioversion in the regions with lower hospitalization percentages. Electrical cardioversions performed in the ED and inpatient settings were measured using specific Current Procedural Terminology codes 92960 and 92961 in the ED procedures section and Clinical Classifications Software code 225 in the inpatient procedures section.


National and regional estimates of frequencies and percentages, and all regression analyses, accounted for the NEDS sampling design. Age-specific annual incidences of ED visits for AF were calculated by dividing the weighted annual number of ED visits for AF by July population estimates from the US Census Bureau, then expressing this quantity as ED visits per 1,000 persons. Two multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to investigate the association between a priori selected patient and hospital characteristics with hospitalization. The models evaluated associations between these independent variables, including US geographic region as an independent variable, and hospitalization from the ED at the national level stratified by region. The Supplementary Table 1 provides a detailed description of the independent variables. We chose these patient and hospital characteristics based on our previous investigations, an extensive review of the medical works, and our clinical experience. This study was conducted with de-identified data and was approved by the local institutional review board as nonhuman research. All analyses were done using the statistical programming language SAS software, version 9.2 of the SAS System for Linux (Cary, North Carolina).




Results


From 2007 to 2009, there were 376,162,043 (95% confidence interval [CI] 362,625,877 to 389,698,208) total weighted ED visits including 1,320,123 (95% CI 1,258,776 to 1,381,471) weighted ED visits for AF. Table 1 lists the characteristics for the ED visits for AF overall including regional hospitalization frequencies. Characteristics stratified by census age groups are listed in Table 2 . Figure 1 shows what appears to be a consistent trend in all 4 US geographic regions, with greater hospitalization percentages associated with increasing patient age. The percentage of patients with AF who underwent ED electrical cardioversion nationwide during 2007 to 2009 was 3.5% (95% CI 2.9 to 4.1). Regional percentages of ED cardioversion were Northeast 4.3% (95% CI 3.2 to 5.5), Midwest 4.0% (95% CI 2.5 to 5.5), South 1.0% (95% CI 0.7 to 1.2), and West 5.6% (95% CI 4.1 to 7.1). Electrical cardioversions were most frequently performed in the youngest adults ( Figure 2 ) and in the inpatient setting, with reported frequencies of 9.4% (95% CI 8.8 to 10) in 2007, 9.5% (95% CI 8.8 to 10.2) in 2008, and 10.1% (95% CI 9.4 to 10.8) in 2009. There was less regional variation in the performance of inpatient cardioversions ( Supplementary Table 2 —online only).



Table 1

Characteristics for emergency department (ED) visits for atrial fibrillation (AF)
















































































































































































































Characteristic 2007 (Nonweighted ED Visits for AF, n = 89,056) 2008 (Nonweighted ED Visits for AF, n = 101,211) 2009 (Nonweighted ED Visits for AF, n = 102,979)
Overall weighted ED visits for AF (95% CI) 411,406 (381,029–441,783) 445,924 (412,503–479,345) 462,794 (429,160–496,427)
ED visits for AF per 1,000 person-yrs, % 1.8 (1.6–2.0) 1.9 (1.7–2.2) 2.0 (1.8–2.2)
Northeast 85,834 (20.9) 88,987 (20.0) 90,547 (19.6)
Midwest 100,160 (24.4) 103,923 (23.3) 111,942 (24.2)
South 154,313 (37.5) 166,748 (37.4) 172,070 (37.2)
West 71,098 (17.3) 86,267 (19.4) 88,235 (19.1)
Age (yrs) 69.2 (68.9–69.4) 69.4 (69.2–69.7) 69.5 (69.3–69.8)
Women 215,406 (52.4) 233,940 (52.5) 243,443 (52.6)
ED disposition
Treated and released 119,836 (29.1) 138,045 (31.0) 141,679 (30.6)
Admitted to same hospital 275,663 (67.0) 291,822 (65.4) 306,495 (66.2)
Transferred to short-term hospital 12,563 (3.1) 14,731 (3.3) 13,636 (3.0)
Died in ED 152.48 (0.04) 243.91 (0.05) 292.95 (0.06)
Died in hospital 2,981 (0.7) 3,092 (0.7) 3,166 (0.7)
Regional hospitalization, % (95% CI)
Northeast 74.2 (71.3–77.2) 73.6 (70.4–76.8) 74.5 (71.4–77.6)
Midwest 67.5 (65.2–70.0) 65.7 (63.3–68.0) 70.2 (67.9–72.4)
South 74.1 (72.1–76.0) 73.7 (71.8–75.7) 73.5 (71.7–75.2)
West 59.9 (56.5–63.2) 57.9 (54.4–61.4) 54.1 (49.7–58.5)
Length of stay (days) 3.7 (3.6–3.7) 3.7 (3.7–3.8) 3.7 (3.6–3.7)
ED cardioversion 3,929 (2.9) 5,374 (3.5) 6,368 (4.1)
Inpatient cardioversion 25,855 (9.4) 27,838 (9.5) 30,852 (10.1)
Total ED charge ($) 1,892 (1,803–1,980) 2,169 (2,061–2,276) 2,437 (2,334–2,540)
Total combined ED and inpatient charge ($) 21,771 (20,712–22,828) 23,667 (22,406–24,927) 24,752 (23,635–25,869)
Weekend ED visit 103,331 (25.2) 112,360 (25.2) 115,567 (25.0)
Hypertension 145,815 (35.4) 160,797 (36.1) 167,623 (36.2)
Diabetes 44,476 (10.8) 50,835 (11.4) 52,930 (11.4)
Coronary artery disease 60,409 (14.7) 68,173 (15.3) 68,426 (14.8)
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease 40,501 (9.8) 33,220 (7.5) 34,344 (7.4)
Heart failure 70,589 (17.2) 72,452 (16.3) 82,929 (17.9)
Insurance type, % (95% CI)
Medicare 66.2 (65.2–37.1) 66.7 (65.8–67.7) 66.7 (65.7–67.7)
Medicaid 4.0 (3.6–4.3) 4.3 (3.9–4.7) 4.7 (4.3–5.2)
Private, including HMO 24.0 (23.2–24.8) 23.3 (22.5–24.2) 22.8 (22.1–23.6)
Self-pay 3.7 (3.3–4.0) 3.3 (3.0–3.6) 3.5 (3.2–3.8)
No charge 0.4 (0.2–0.6) 0.4 (0.2–0.5) 0.4 (0.2–0.6)
Other 1.9 (1.6–2.2) 2.0 (1.7–2.3) 1.9 (1.6–2.1)
Low income 98,359 (24.4) 102,227 (23.5) 105,674 (23.4)
Large metropolitan 179,112 (48.9) 189,144 (47.7) 197,803 (48.0)
Teaching hospital 145,749 (35.4) 149,259 (33.5) 158,999 (34.4)
Safety net hospital 185,127 (45.0) 213,410 (47.9) 241,649 (52.2)

Data are presented as national weighted frequencies (percentages of total annual ED visits for AF) unless otherwise specified.

HMO = health maintenance organization.

Data are reported as mean with (95% CI).


Frequencies of documented chronic disease are reported as weighted frequency (%).



Table 2

Characteristics for emergency department (ED) visits for atrial fibrillation (AF) by age group

















































































































































































































Characteristic Age (yrs)
18–39 40–64 65–74 75–84 >85 Overall
Overall weighted ED visits for AF 0.04 (0.04–0.04) 0.4 (0.4–0.4) 1.2 (1.2–1.3) 1.5 (1.5–1.5) 1.4 (1.4–1.4) 0.4 (0.3–0.4)
Women 20.5 (19.6–21.5) 36.0 (35.5–36.5) 52.5 (51.9–53.1) 63.6 (63.1–64.1) 73.4 (72.8–74.0) 52.5 (52.2–52.8)
ED disposition
Discharged 44.2 (42.4–45.9) 35.8 (34.6–37.0) 31.2 (30.1–32.3) 26.4 (25.4–27.4) 21.3 (20.4–22.2) 30.3 (29.3–31.3)
Admitted to same hospital 52.3 (50.5–54.0) 60.9 (59.7–62.2) 64.9 (63.7–66.2) 70.0 (68.8–71.2) 75.4 (74.3–76.4) 66.2 (65.1–67.3)
Transferred to short-term hospital 3.0 (2.6–3.4) 27.8 (2.5–3.1) 3.5 (3.0–4.0) 3.2 (2.8–3.7) 2.9 (2.5–3.4) 3.1 (2.7–3.5)
Died in ED 0.02 (0–0.04) 0.03 (0.02–0.05) 0.04 (.02–0.06) 0.06 (0.04–0.07) 0.1 (0.1–0.1) 0.05 (0.04–0.06)
Medicare 3.7 (3.2–4.2) 12.8 (12.4–13.2) 83.0 (82.3–83.8) 91.5 (90.9–92.1) 93.6 (93.0–94.2) 62.8 (62.1–63.5)
Medicaid 11.6 (10.7–12.5) 9.4 (8.9–9.9) 1.6 (1.3–1.8) 1.0 (0.8–1.2) 0.6 (0.5–0.7) 4.0 (3.8–4.3)
Private, including HMO 62.1 (60.6–63.6) 63.5 (62.4–64.6) 13.6 (12.9–14.3) 6.2 (5.7–6.8) 4.7 (4.2–5.2) 27.1 (26.4–27.7)
Self-pay 17.5 (16.3–18.6) 8.9 (8.4–9.4) 0.9 (0.8–1.1) 0.6 (0.5–0.7) 0.5 (0.3–0.6) 3.8 (3.6–4.1)
No charge 0.9 (0.6–1.3) 0.9 (0.6–1.2) 0.1 (0.03–0.1) 0.04 (0.01–0.06) 0.03 (0.01–0.04) 0.3 (0.2–0.5)
Other 4.3 (3.7–4.9) 4.5 (4.0–4.9) 0.8 (0.7–1.0) 0.7 (0.5–0.8) 0.6 (0.5–0.8) 2.0 (1.8–2.2)
Low income 25.1 (23.3–26.9) 24.0 (22.5–25.4) 24.6 (23.1–26.2) 23.3 (21.8–24.8) 22.5 (20.9–24.1) 23.8 (22.3–25.2)
Weekend ED visit 28.1 (27.2–28.9) 25.2 (24.9–25.6) 25.0 (24.7–25.5) 24.5 (24.2–24.9) 25.1 (24.6–25.5) 25.1 (24.9–25.3)
Hypertension 17.2 (16.2–18.1) 34.9 (34.3–35.5) 40.2 (39.6–40.9) 37.6 (36.9–38.2) 33.5 (32.8–34.2) 35.9 (35.4–36.4)
Diabetes 3.6 (3.1–4.1) 12.1 (11.7–12.4) 13.9 (13.5–14.3) 11.2 (10.9–11.5) 7.5 (7.2–7.8) 11.2 (11.0–11.5)
Coronary artery disease 1.5 (1.3–1.8) 11.0 (10.6–11.3) 17.4 (17.0–17.9) 18.6 (18.2–19.0) 15.8 (15.3–16.3) 14.9 (14.6–15.2)
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease 0.4 (0.3–0.5) 5.7 (5.5–6.0) 10.0 (9.7–10.4) 10.4 (10.1–10.7) 8.4 (8.0–8.7) 8.2 (8.0–8.4)
Heart failure 3.6 (3.2–4.0) 12.0 (11.6–12.4) 15.0 (14.6–15.5) 20.3 (19.7–20.8) 28.2 (27.5–29.0) 17.1 (16.7–17.5)
Large metropolitan 53.3 (50.6–56.1) 49.3 (46.9–51.8) 45.5 (43.1–47.9) 47.5 (45.1–50.0) 49.8 (47.2–52.3) 48.2 (45.8–50.5)
Teaching hospital 40.3 (37.5–43.1) 37.8 (35.3–40.2) 32.5 (30.0–34.9) 32.6 (30.1–35.1) 32.5 (29.9–35.1) 34.4 (32.0–36.8)
Safety net hospital 52.0 (48.5–55.5) 50.5 (47.3–53.7) 49.7 (46.5–52.9) 46.7 (43.4–50.0) 45.0 (41.7–48.4) 48.5 (45.3–51.7)
ED electrical cardioversion performed 8.0 (6.5–9.4) 5.4 (4.4–6.4) 3.0 (2.4–3.6) 1.6 (1.2–1.9) 0.7 (0.4–1.0) 3.5 (2.9–4.1)
Inpatient electrical cardioversion performed 14.2 (13.1–15.3) 13.1 (12.5–13.8) 10.7 (10.1–11.3) 8.2 (7.7–8.7) 4.6 (4.2–4.9) 9.7 (9.2–10.1)

Data are presented as frequencies per age group and overall with % (95% CIs).

HMO = health maintenance organization.



Figure 1


Hospitalizations by region and adult census age categories. Figures are stratified by region with each dot representing a year and each line type an age group. Overall estimates for each region are also included.



Figure 2


ED cardioversions by adult census age category and region. Figures are stratified by region and illustrate percentages calculated from weighted frequencies. Each dot represents a year and each line type an age group, including the overall estimate for each region ignoring age.


Multivariate analyses found that the Midwest and West regions had lower odds of admission compared with the Northeast ( Table 3 ). The strongest predictors of hospitalization were a history of heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and coronary artery disease. After adjusting for age, privately insured and self-pay patients had lower odds of hospitalization compared with Medicare patients, whereas Medicaid patients tended to have higher odds. Patients living in a low-income zip code and those treated at large metropolitan, safety net, and private investor-owned hospitals had higher odds of hospitalization. We investigated insurance status in patients identified as low income and found that 65% had Medicare, 6% Medicaid, 20% private insurance, 5% self-pay, and 2.5% with no charge or other insurance.



Table 3

Multivariate analysis investigating association between covariates and hospitalization for emergency department (ED) patients with atrial fibrillation at the national and regional levels






















































































































































































































































































































































































































































Characteristic Region Adjusted OR (95% CI) p
Age National 1.008 (1.007–1.010) <0.0001
Northeast 1.003 (1.00–1.007) 0.0517
Midwest 1.011 (1.009–1.014) <0.0001
South 1.006 (1.003–1.008) <0.0001
West 1.013 (1.010–1.016) <0.0001
Women National 1.064 (1.040–1.088) <0.0001
Northeast 1.101 (1.045–1.160) 0.0003
Midwest 1.035 (0.989–1.083) 0.1419
South 1.057 (1.022–1.093) 0.0014
West 1.072 (1.013–1.133) 0.0152
US region Northeast (ref) 1.00
Midwest 0.762 (0.655–0.886) 0.0004
South 0.846 (0.690–1.036) 0.1058
West 0.44 (0.357–0.543) <0.0001
Heart failure National 3.845 (3.655–4.017) <0.0001
Northeast 6.154 (5.419–6.989) <0.0001
Midwest 3.577 (3.302–3.874) <0.0001
South 3.229 (2.966–3.515) <0.0001
West 3.882 (3.445–4.374) <0.0001
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease National 2.469 (2.340–2.605) <0.0001
Northeast 3.346 (2.916–3.840) <0.0001
Midwest 2.343 (2.118–2.605) <0.0001
South 2.285 (2.108–2.477) <0.0001
West 2.242 (1.959–2.566) <0.0001
Coronary artery disease National 1.651 (1.576–1.729) <0.0001
Northeast 2.105 (1.850–2.396) <0.0001
Midwest 1.492 (1.374–1.619) <0.0001
South 1.535 (1.420–1.632) <0.0001
West 1.797 (1.581–2.043) <0.0001
Hypertension National 1.131 (1.094–1.205) <0.0001
Northeast 1.437 (1.266–1.630) <0.0001
Midwest 1.105 (1.017–1.200) 0.0177
South 0.943 (0.889–1.001) 0.0523
West 1.263 (1.105–1.443) 0.00006
Diabetes National 1.147 (1.104–1.193) <0.0001
Northeast 1.22 (1.112–1.340) <0.0001
Midwest 1.147 (1.061–1.240) 0.0006
South 1.093 (1.030–1.160) 0.0033
West 1.154 (1.057–1.261) 0.0014
Payer status
Medicare (ref) 1.00
Medicaid National 1.21 (1.110–1.319) <0.0001
Northeast 0.982 (0.797–1.211) 0.8677
Midwest 1.179 (0.986–1.410) 0.0718
South 1.138 (0.996–1.281) 0.0580
West 1.516 (1.284–1.790) <0.0001
Private insurance National 0.77 (0.729–0.812) <0.0001
Northeast 0.599 (0.498–0.720) <0.0001
Midwest 0.852 (0.794–0.914) <0.0001
South 0.792 (0.739–0.849) <0.0001
West 0.849 (0.767–0.940) 0.0016
Self-pay National 0.772 (0.659–0.903) 0.0013
Northeast 0.753 (0.612–0.925) 0.0071
Midwest 1.082 (0.937–1.249) 0.2852
South 0.628 (0.471–0.839) 0.0017
West 0.923 (0.731–1.166) 0.5002
Low income National 1.182 (1.117–1.252) <0.0001
Northeast 1.14 (0.981–1.325) 0.0883
Midwest 1.201 (1.098–1.313) <0.0001
South 1.142 (1.056–1.234) 0.0008
West 1.379 (1.140–1.666) 0.0009
Large metropolitan hospital National 1.75 (1.589–1.928) <0.0001
Northeast 1.99 (1.570–2.522) <0.0001
Midwest 1.554 (1.299–1.859) <0.0001
South 1.785 (1.521–2.094) <0.0001
West 1.689 (1.352–2.111) <0.0001
Teaching hospital National 1.161 (1.011–1.333) 0.0342
Northeast 1.236 (0.979–1.561) 0.0752
Midwest 1.222 (1.018–1.466) 0.0313
South 0.79 (0.470–1.328) 0.3730
West 1.047 (0.569–1.927) 0.8835
Safety net hospital National 1.219 (1.105–1.344) <0.0001
Northeast 0.882 (0.685–1.137) 0.3323
Midwest 1.107 (0.954–1.284) 0.1808
South 1.234 (1.047–1.455) 0.0123
West 1.667 (1.410–2.191) <0.0001
Hospital ownership: government or private, collapsed (ref) 1.00
Government, nonfederal, public National 0.964 (0.807–1.150) 0.6821
Northeast 0.107 (0.086–0.134) <0.0001
Midwest 0.876 (0.684–1.121) 0.2929
South 0.618 (0.371–1.030) 0.0646
West 1.15 (0.651–2.033) 0.6297
Private, nonprofit National 1.089 (0.898–1.322) 0.3849
Northeast 0.105 (0.087–0.127) <0.0001
Midwest 0.129 (0.112–0.149) <0.0001
South 0.675 (0.408–1.116) 0.1254
West 1.532 (0.866–2.711) 0.1430
Private, investor-owned National 1.514 (1.250–1.833) <0.0001
Northeast 0.124 (0.100–0.153) <0.0001
Midwest 0.15 (0.128–0.176) <0.0001
South 0.999 (0.601–1.659) 0.9955
West 1.836 (1.055–3.195) 0.0315
Weekend ED visit National 0.995 (0.971–1.019) 0.6914
Northeast 0.971 (0.922–1.022) 0.2602
Midwest 1.008 (1.351–1.839) 0.7076
South 1.016 (1.541–2.108) 0.3789
West 0.97 (0.901–1.406) 0.4306

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Dec 5, 2016 | Posted by in CARDIOLOGY | Comments Off on Predictors of Regional Variations in Hospitalizations Following Emergency Department Visits for Atrial Fibrillation

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