Health service use, health outcomes and treatment costs of adults with a cochlear implant: a retrospective cohort study

Table 2 Health service use and health outcomes of adults who had a cochlear implant during 2011 to 2021, in New South Wales, Australia

Characteristics	18–64 years (n = 1461)		≥ 65 years (n = 1610)
	n	%	n	%	p-value^a
Hospitalisations
Number of hospitalisations (all-cause), median (IQR)	3.0	(4.0)	5.0	(6.0)	< 0.0001
All-cause hospitalisations
1	364	24.9	210	13.0	< 0.0001
2–3	478	32.7	357	22.2
4–5	225	15.4	308	19.1
6–7	125	8.6	186	11.6
≥ 8	269	18.4	549	34.1
Readmission within 28 days^b
No	1387	94.9	1483	92.1	0.0006
Yes	69	4.7	125	7.8
Total LOS in days, mean (SD)	1.4	(3.1)	2.3	(18.2)	0.0564
Non-admitted patient service contacts (between 2017–2021)
Number of NAP contacts (all-cause), median (IQR)	6.0	(18.0)	11.0	(26.0)	< 0.0001
All-cause NAP contacts
1–6	529	36.2	434	27.0	< 0.0001
7–12	142	9.7	216	13.4
≥ 13	364	24.9	545	33.9
Number of auditory NAP contacts, median (IQR)	2.0	(3.0)	2.0	(3.0)	0.4373
Auditory NAP contacts
1	77	5.3	59	3.7	0.1068
2–3	57	3.9	63	3.9
≥ 4	50	3.4	44	2.7

IQR: Interquartile range; LOS: Length of stay; NAP: Non-admitted patients; SD: Standard deviation; ^aP-value for Pearson Chi-square or Mann Whitney U test or t-test; ^bReadmission within 28 days missing for n = 7 individuals

ISSN: 1471-2458