ArticleThe European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care2018
Determinants of health care costs in the senior elderly: age, comorbidity, impairment, or proximity to death?
Article in The European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 61 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
61 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 150 citations in OpenAlex.
- Conjoint analyses of patients' preferences for primary care: a systematic review.BMC primary care · 2022Pooled it
- Impact of multimorbidity on healthcare costs and utilisation: a systematic review of the UK literature.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2021Pooled it
- Impact of socioeconomic status on end-of-life costs: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC palliative care · 2020Pooled it
- Integration of the circulating miRNome and clinical information to predict 90-day mortality in elderly COVID-19 subphenotypes.iScience · 2026Article
- Systematic review of cardiovascular care delivery across health systems in the Asia-Pacific: a regional roadmap for strengthening cardiovascular care.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2026Article
- Estimating the Future Health and Social Care Costs of Alzheimer's Disease Dementia in the UK: Impact of Disease Modifying Therapy Efficacy, Uptake, and Care Model - A Scenario Modelling Study.International journal of geriatric psychiatry · 2026Article
- Characteristics of older people who experience high-cost hospital care at the end of life and report low-satisfaction: Evidence of low-value care from bereaved carer surveys in England.Palliative care and social practice · 2026Article
- Healthcare Expenditure Trajectories in the Last 5 Years of Life: A Retrospective Cohort Study of Decedents with Advanced Cancer and End-Stage Organ Diseases.PharmacoEconomics - open · 2025Article
- Exploration of health care utilization, social care utilization and costs for individuals discharged from inpatient geriatric care in Sweden - a registry data study.Health economics review · 2025Article
- Mortality causes and health spending by gender and health conditions in octogenarians, nonagenarians and centenarians in Colombia.Scientific reports · 2025Observational
- Article
- Utilization of Municipal Healthcare Services Among High-Cost Older Patients in Norwegian Somatic Hospitals: A Cross-Sectional Registry Study.Health services insights · 2025Article
- A systematic review of economic evaluation of healthcare associated infection prevention and control interventions in long term care facilities.Health economics review · 2024Review
- Healthcare information management and operational cost performance: empirical evidence.The European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care · 2024Article
- Predicting healthcare expenditure based on Adjusted Morbidity Groups to implement a needs-based capitation financing system.Health economics review · 2024Article
- End-of-life expenditure on health care for the older population: a scoping review.Health economics review · 2024Article
- The association between healthcare expenditures and potentially inappropriate medication use in hospitalized older adults in Ethiopia.BMC geriatrics · 2024Observational
- Association between multimorbidity and informal long-term care use in China: a nationwide cohort study.BMC geriatrics · 2023Article
- An AMP Kinase-pathway dependent integrated stress response regulates ageing and longevity.Biogerontology · 2023Article
- Patient emergency health-care use before hospital admission for COVID-19 and long-term outcomes in Scotland: a national cohort study.The Lancet. Digital health · 2023Article
1 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Ageing is assumed to be accompanied by greater health care expenditures but the association is also viewed as a 'red herring'. This study aimed to evaluate whether age is associated with health care costs in the senior elderly, using electronic health records for 98,220 participants aged 80 years and over registered with the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink and linked Hospital Episode Statistics (2010-2014). Annual costs of health care utilization were estimated from a two-part model; multiple fractional polynomial models were employed to evaluate the non-linear association of age with predicted health care costs while also controlling for comorbidities, impairments, and death proximity. Annual health care costs increased from 80 years (£2972 in men, £2603 in women) to 97 (men; £4721) or 98 years (women; £3963), before declining. Costs were significantly elevated in the last year of life but this effect declined with age, from £10,027 in younger octogenarians to £7021 in centenarians. This decline was steeper in participants with comorbidities or impairments; £14,500 for 80-84-year-olds and £6752 for centenarians with 7+ impairments. At other times, comorbidity and impairments, not age, were main drivers of costs. We conclude that comorbidities, impairments, and proximity to death are key mediators of age-related increases in health care costs. While the costs of comorbidity among survivors are not generally associated with age, additional costs in the last year of life decline with age.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.