Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39879435›Full record

ArticleCritical care science2025

Frequency, financial impact, and factors associated with cost outliers in intensive care units: a cohort study in Belgium.

Arnaud Bruyneel, Julie Van den Bulcke, Pol Leclercq, Magali Pirson

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Critical care science, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Arnaud BruyneelHealth Economics, Hospital Management and Nursing Research Deptment, School of Public Health, Université Libre de Bruxelles - Bruxelles, Belgium.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0432-9474
Julie Van den BulckeHealth Economics, Hospital Management and Nursing Research Deptment, School of Public Health, Université Libre de Bruxelles - Bruxelles, Belgium.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4153-6488
Pol LeclercqHealth Economics, Hospital Management and Nursing Research Deptment, School of Public Health, Université Libre de Bruxelles - Bruxelles, Belgium.
Magali PirsonHealth Economics, Hospital Management and Nursing Research Deptment, School of Public Health, Université Libre de Bruxelles - Bruxelles, Belgium.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4844-4861

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveThis study aimed to explore the association between high outliers and intensive care unit admissions and to identify the factors contributing to high intensive care unit costs.

methodsThis retrospective cohort study used data from 17 Belgian hospitals from 2018 and 2019. The study focused on the 10 most frequently admitted diagnosis-related groups in the intensive care unit. The dataset included medical discharge summaries and cost per stay from the hospital perspective.

resultsA total of 39,279 hospital stays were analyzed, 11,124 of which were intensive care unit admissions; additionally, 2,500 of these stays were high outliers. The proportion of high outliers was significantly greater in the intensive care unit group, and admission to the intensive care unit was significantly associated with high outliers in the multivariate analyses. Factors associated with high intensive care unit outliers included the medical diagnosis-related group category, patients from nursing homes, intensive care unit stay duration exceeding 4 days, and specific technical procedures (measurement of intracranial pressure, continuous hemofiltration, and mechanical ventilation).

conclusionAdmission to the intensive care unit increases the likelihood of being classified as an outlier, thus significantly impacting hospital costs. This study identified factors that can be used to predict intensive care unit outliers, which can enable adjustments to diagnosis-related group-based funding for intensive care units.

Indexed as

Hospital CostsIntensive Care UnitsAdultAgedBelgiumCohort StudiesDiagnosis-Related GroupsFemaleHumansLength of StayMaleMiddle AgedRetrospective Studies

Identifiers

PMID39879435
PMCPMC11805458

What OpenQuestion holds

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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.