Cancer hospitalizations rated
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) released Statistical Brief #125 Cancer Hospitalizations for Adults, 2009. The brief presented data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) Nationwide Inpatient Sample on hospital stays for cancer care among adults age 18 years and older in 2009 (Table 1). Cancer was the principal diagnosis in one-quarter of the 4.7 million cancer-related hospitalizations among US adults in 2009. Adult hospital stays principally for cancer account for approximately 6% of adult inpatient hospital costs. This number decreased by 4% between 2000 and 2009. The growing number of outpatient cancer treatment options may account for some of the decrease in the number of hospitalizations.
The most common hospitalizations for cancer among adult men were for prostate cancer, secondary malignancies (such as metastatic disease), and lung cancer. Data in this report indicated hospitalizations for kidney cancer increased 40% between 2000 and 2009, whereas hospitalizations for colon cancer and bladder cancer decreased 14% and 12%, respectively, during the same time period.
The most common cancer hospitalizations among adult women were for secondary malignancies, breast cancer, and lung cancer. Hospitalizations for lung cancer, uterine cancer, and ovarian cancer remained relatively stable from 2000 to 2009. Hospitalizations for all other common cancers decreased; most notably, the data show a decrease of 28% and 26% in hospitalizations for breast cancer and cervical cancer, respectively.
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