Table 2 Comparison of overall and epilepsy-specific healthcare utilization across treatment groups.

From: Healthcare utilization and costs after cranial epilepsy surgery and vagus nerve stimulation in pediatric drug-resistant epilepsy: a nationwide cohort study

 

Total (N = 6,020)

ASM–only (N = 5,407)

CES (N = 496)

VNS (N = 217)

P*

Overall healthcare utilization

Outpatient visits

25.1 [15.0–47.3]

25.1 [14.9–47.4]

25.0 [15.2–47.2]

25.5 [18.0–44.2]

0.45

ED visits

0.5 [0.1–1.3]

0.5 [0.1–1.3]

0.4 [0.2–1.0]

0.7 [0.3–1.3]

0.004

Inpatient admissions

0.4 [0.1–1.3]

0.4 [0.1–1.3]

0.5 [0.3–1.2]

0.6 [0.3–1.1]

< 0.001

Annualized length of stay (days)

2.0 [0.3–11.4]

1.8 [0.2–12.0]

2.8 [1.14–9.9]

3.2 [1.5–8.2]

< 0.001

Epilepsy-specific healthcare utilization

Outpatient visits

6.5 [3.6–11.2]

6.3 [3.5–10.8]

7.1 [4.0–14.9]

10.3 [7.6–14.4]

< 0.001

ED visits

0.1 [0.0–0.5]

0.1 [0.0–0.5]

0.1 [0.0–0.3]

0.2 [0.0–0.8]

< 0.001

Inpatient admissions

0.2 [0.0–0.8]

0.1 [0.0–0.8]

0.5 [0.2–1.0]

0.5 [0.2–1.0]

< 0.001

Annualized length of stay (days)

0.6 [0.0–5.9]

0.3 [0.0–5.5]

2.4 [0.9–8.4]

2.9 [0.9–7.4]

< 0.001

  1. Values are presented as median [interquartile range]. Annual encounters were calculated by dividing the total utilization by individual follow-up years.
  2. Overall utilization included all medical encounters, whereas epilepsy-specific utilization was limited to encounters with ICD-10 codes G40–G41.
  3. Healthcare services related to the VNS or CES procedures were excluded. *P-values for between-group comparisons, calculated using Kruskal–Wallis test.
  4. ASM, antiseizure medication; VNS, vagus nerve stimulation; CES, cranial electrical stimulation; ED, emergency department.
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