Health Care Resource, Economic, and Readmission Implications After Acute Decompensated Aortic Stenosis–A Nationwide Study

Acute decompensated aortic stenosis (ADAS) is common. The cumulative burden of ADAS from a clinical, health care resource, and financial perspective is unknown. This study sought to assess the national impact of ADAS compared with electively treated, stable patients with aortic stenosis (non-ADAS). Using the National Readmissions Database between 2016 and 2019, patients with ADAS and non-ADAS were identified using International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision codes. Patients with ADAS were propensity-matched to non-ADAS patients (1:2) using age, gender, and Charlson co-morbidity index. We compared in-hospital mortality, length of stay (LOS), health care–associated costs, and 90-day readmission data between the 2 cohorts. A total of 51,498 propensity-matched patients were included in this study: median age 75 years, 64% men. The in-hospital mortality for ADAS was higher than non-ADAS (2.8% vs 1.5%, p <0.0001). The LOS during the index admission was longer for ADAS (9 [5 to 13] vs 4 [2 to 6] days, p <0.0001). The health care–associated costs per patient was greater for ADAS ($55,450.0 [41,860.4 to 74,500.7] vs $43,405.7 [34,218.5 to 56,034.8], p <0.0001). Readmission to hospital within 90 days was more frequent in ADAS (21.1 vs 16.8%, p <0.001). The in-hospital mortality during readmission was higher with ADAS (3.9% vs 2.8%, p = 0.004). The readmission LOS was longer with ADAS (4 [2 to 7] vs 3 [2 to 6] days, p <0.0001). In conclusion, ADAS imposes a significant burden clinically and financially and on health care resources compared with non-ADAS during the index admission and 90-day follow-up. There is an urgent need to predict ADAS and optimize the timing of aortic valve replacement to reduce the incidence and the burden associated with ADAS.