gms | German Medical Science

Background: Injuries to the hand and wrist are estimated to account for 20% of all Emergency Department (ED) presentations. The economic burden placed on the health-care system can be extensive and rise sharply with the increase of severity.

Objective: This cost-of-illness study was performed with the aim of estimating the economic implications of hand and wrist injuries requiring ED presentation from a health-care system perspective.

Methods: Data from two EDs were retrieved from the electronic records of one large hospital network across two financial year periods (2014-15 and 2015-16) using ICD-10 codes. All costs that resulted from the treatment of any acute hand or wrist injury across the two-year period were calculated and are presented by age, sex, injury type, and mechanism of injury.

Results: A total of 10,024 individuals presented to the two EDs in the two-year period, accounting for approximately 5.4% of all presentations. The most common presentations were males (62.19%); people aged 25-34 years (26.85%); and lacerations (31.15%). The total cost in the two-year study period was $3,959,535.38 ($1,923,852.38 in 2014-15; $2,035,683.00 in 2015-16). The median cost per presentation was $275.97 (IQR $196.05-$412.47) in 2014-15 and $270.14 (IQR $182.07-$420.70) in 2015-16.

Conclusions: Hand and wrist injuries are associated with a considerable volume of ED presentations and represent a significant component of health expenditure. Further research on how to reduce avoidable injuries should be seen as a priority area to reduce the cost of these injuries to the health-care system and society.