Preventable Hospitalizations of Dehydration: Implications of Inadequate Primary Health Care in the United States

Purpose This study is designed to describe the magnitude and economic burden of preventable hospitalizations primarily due to dehydration in the U.S. Prevention Quality Indicators (PQIs), developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) are based on hospital inpatient data to provide insight into the quality of the health care systems outside the hospital setting. Hospitalization due to dehydration is avoidable with timely primary care; therefore, it has been used as one of the PQI. Although the dehydration is a preventable condition, it can lead to costly emergency room and hospital visits, and even death. Methods The 2004 National Hospital Discharge Survey, containing 370,785 inpatient records, was analyzed. This nationally representative survey is conducted annually under the auspice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Overall, the hospital response rate was 92%. Results In the year 2004, approximately 518,000 hospitalizations were primarily due to the dehydration. Nearly 5.5 billion dollars in hospital charges were resulted from dehydration admissions. Approximately 88% were either an emergency or urgent type admissions; over 54% were admitted to a hospital through the emergency room; nearly 2% of admissions died at the hospital. Conclusion Dehydration is a prime example of a preventable condition from hospitalization if the condition had been managed properly in primary health care. This studyʹs results suggest that the cost burden resulting from avoidable hospitalizations due to dehydration is substantial. Improved primary health care would save substantial social and financial costs and possibly lives.