Healthcare Costs of Pressure Injuries among Patients with a Spinal Cord Injury within a Dutch Rehabilitation Center

OBJECTIVE To assess the healthcare costs of pressure injuries (PIs) among patients with a spinal cord injury (SCI) in a Dutch rehabilitation center and determine if those costs were associated with patients’ age or sex.

METHODS The direct healthcare costs of PIs were estimated using data from electronic health records of a Dutch rehabilitation center. This dataset contained demographic, clinical, and resource use information of all patients with an SCI or a PI who were treated at the rehabilitation center because of a PI between 2009 and 2022. Standard prices were used to value inpatient rehabilitation, whereas a micro-costing approach was used to value outpatient consultations and material costs. Using ordinary least squares regression analyses, the authors assessed whether the costs were associated with age and sex, after correcting for the patients’ length of PI care.

RESULTS Between 2009 and 2022, 409 patients with an SCI were treated at the rehabilitation center for a PI. The patients’ mean total length of PI care was 883 ± 1,266 days (median, 137 days; interquartile range, 10–1,620). The mean total rehabilitation cost of PIs among these patients was €15,412 (USD $16,836) per patient with a mean total annual rehabilitation cost of €6,368 (USD $6,956) per patient. Costs were not significantly associated with age and sex.

CONCLUSIONS The healthcare costs of PIs among patients with an SCI in a Dutch rehabilitation center represent a significant economic burden. Prevention of PIs seems warranted, not only from a clinical perspective, but also from a health economic perspective.