Poor disease knowledge is associated with higher healthcare service use and costs among patients with cirrhosis: an exploratory study

Table 3 Adjusted incidence rate ratios and cost ratios according to knowledge score among 121 patients

Data source: Queensland hospital admitted patient data collection	IRR (95%CI)*	p value	Adjusted-IRR (95%CI)*	p value
All-cause admission	0.42 (0.35–0.49)	< 0.001	0.24 (0.20–0.29)	< 0.001
Cirrhosis admission	1.21 (0.82–1.79)	0.338	0.59 (0.35–0.99)	0.046
Planned one-day admission (cirrhosis admission)	4.59 (1.79–11.73)	0.001	3.96 (1.46–10.74)	0.007
Admitted via the emergency department (any admission)	0.70 (0.51–0.97)	0.034	0.51 (0.35–0.76)	0.001
Admitted via the emergency department (cirrhosis admission)	0.90 (0.57–1.41)	0.646	0.57 (0.32–1.00)	0.050

Data source: emergency data collection	IRR (95%CI)*	p value	IRR (95%CI)*	p value
Emergency presentation (any reason)	0.76 (0.58–1.00)	0.048	0.62 (0.44–0.85)	0.004
Cirrhosis-related emergency presentation	0.70 (0.40–1.25)	0.229	0.34 (0.16–0.72)	0.005

Data source: National hospital cost data collection	Cost ratio (95%CI)**	p value	Cost ratio (95%CI)**	p value
Total cost for any admission	0.25 (0.24–0.25)	< 0.001	0.09 (0.08–0.09)	< 0.001
Total cost for cirrhosis admissions	0.54 (0.53–0.54)	< 0.001	0.30 (0.29–0.30)	< 0.001

Bold values indicates statistically significant (p < 0.05)
Incidence rate ratio (IRR) and cost ratio with poor knowledge as reference group
Two patients for whom we did not have hospital admission data were excluded from these analyses
*Multivariable Poisson regression model included education level, socioeconomic status, presence of complications of cirrhosis and duration of cirrhosis
**Multivariable Poisson regression model included education level, Charlson Comorbidity Index, and presence of complications of cirrhosis

ISSN: 1471-230X