Inpatient Hospital Costs for Celiac Disease in the United States in 2014

Celiac disease (CD) is a rare autoimmune disease that affects approximately 0.5 to1% of the United States (U.S.) population. Patients with CD have gastrointestinal disturbances resulting from eating gluten. The only treatment therapy available is maintaining a strict gluten free diet. Currently, there is not much published data detailing the direct cost of CD in the U.S. This study analyzed direct inpatient hospitalization costs of CD in the U.S. The Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project net (HCUPnet) was analyzed to determine the number of discharges, mean length of stay, mean cost per hospitalization, and total expenditures of several patient demographics in the U.S. for the year 2014. There were 805 discharges in 2014 in the U.S. The mean cost per hospitalization was $9,247 (SD $17,732) and the mean length of stay was 4.9 days. The aggregate cost of celiac in the in 2014 was $7,413,355 (SD $23,320,823). Different patient demographics resulted in variable costs and length of stay for patients. The mean cost of hospitalization for CD was lower than that of the general population in the across all disease states. With no approved cures or treatment, CD will contribute to health expenditures in the U.S. for the foreseeable future.