Specogna et al did an interesting analysis of a large cohort of intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) patients in one large tertiary care facility in Calgary, Alberta Canada. The demonstrated using administrative database in their single payer system that the median cost of an was about $USD 10,500 in 2008 adjusted dollars. There was a wide range (no surprise). What was interesting was that higher patient age and in-hospital mortality lowered the cost of the hospitalization. This is different that ischemic stroke data that suggests in-hospital mortality would likely increase the cost of hospital care. Perhaps this is due to the generally more medically sick ICH patients and a shorter length of stay associated with in-hospital mortality that contributes significantly to hospitalization costs.
A higher Charlson Comorbidity Index and having surgery for ICH also increased the acute care costs (no surprise).