Analysis of the influencing factors for hospital charge of spinal fractures with a category tree model

Objective: To determine the influencing factors for hospital cost of patients with spinal fractures using E-CHAID category tree, we performed this retrospective study. Patients and methods: The data on 2109 patients with spinal fractures in our hospital, including the comorbidity conditions, surgical and other clinical characteristics, were collected. After Pearson correlation test was performed to explore the potential influencing factors for hospital cost, multivariate stepwise regression analyses were applied to investigate independent influencing factors. E-CHAID category tree model was used to determine the interactive relationship between these influencing factors and estimate the hospital cost of spinal fractures. Results: The average cost of spinal fractures was RMB 26015.76 (USD 4775.35) in male patients and RMB 28652.12 (USD 3317.21) in female patients, respectively. The hospital cost was classified by ECHAID category tree into 18 groups, in which the primary driver was the treatment methods, followed by the hospital length of stay. Conclusions: ECHAID decision tree model could be used to estimate the hospital cost of spinal fractures. The primary driver for hospital cost of spinal fractures was the treatment methods.