Length of stay and hospitalization costs for patients undergoing lung surgery with Progel pleural air leak sealant

Figures & data

Table 1. Hospital and patient characteristics of discharges reporting Progel use vs other sealants, after propensity score matching.

Variable	Progel	Other sealants
	n (%)^a	n (%)^a
Number of hospitals	138	257
Census region
Midwest	483 (13.6)	716 (20.2)
Northeast	539 (15.1)	589 (16.6)
South	1,983 (55.7)	1,406 (39.7)
West	557 (15.6)	828 (23.4)
Location
Rural	371 (10.4)	206 (5.8)
Urban	3,191 (89.6)	3,333 (94.2)
Affiliation
Non-teaching	1,670 (46.9)	1,813 (51.2)
Teaching	1,892 (53.1)	1,726 (48.8)
Bed size
<200	267 (7.5)	132 (3.7)
200–400	1,407 (39.5)	1,433 (40.5)
>400	1,888 (53.0)	1,974 (55.8)
Age (years)
18–64	1,389 (39.0)	1,513 (42.8)
65–84	1,898 (53.2)	1,779 (50.2)
>80	275 (7.7)	247 (7.0)
Male	1,918 (53.8)	1,950 (55.1)
Race
White	2,861 (80.3)	2,743 (77.5)
Black	256 (7.1)	224 (6.3)
Hispanic	14 (0.4)	37 (1.1)
Other	426 (12.1)	535 (15.1)
Body mass index (kg/m^2)
<19	65 (16.1)	59 (13.5)
19–24.9	54 (13.4)	88 (20.1)
25–29.9	52 (12.9)	60 (13.7)
≥30	233 (57.7)	231 (52.7)
Comorbidities
0	1,920 (53.9)	1,918 (54.2)
1	1,345 (37.8)	1,290 (36.4)
2	274 (7.7)	297 (8.4)
3+	23 (0.6)	34 (1.0)
APR-DRG severity level
1	532 (14.9)	407 (11.5)
2	1,712 (48.1)	1,420 (40.1)
3	825 (23.2)	884 (25.0)
4	493 (13.8)	828 (23.4)
Surgical procedure and ICD-9 code
Thoracoscopic segmental resection  of lung (32.30)	249 (6.9)	148 (4.0)
Other and unspecified segmental  resection of lung (32.39)	168 (4.6)	266 (7.3)
Thoracoscopic lobectomy of lung (32.41)	1,147 (31.6)	670 (18.3)
Other lobectomy of lung (32.49)	1,504 (41.4)	1,807 (49.5)
Decortication of lung (34.51)	561 (15.5)	733 (20.0)
Thoracoscopic decortication of lung (35.52)	0 (0)	29 (0.8)

^a Percentages based on number of non-missing values.

Abbreviations. APR-DRG, All Patient Refined–Diagnosis Related Group; ICD-9, International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Edition.

Table 2. Results of secondary end-points for discharges^a reporting Progel use vs other sealants.

Variable	Progel	Other sealants
Surgery time (min)
Mean (95% CI)	248.96 (245.69–252.23)	256.95 (253.08–260.82)
Median (lower IQR, upper IQR)	230.00 (180.00–300.00)	238.60 (180.00–300.00)
Respiratory complications, n (%)
Total	479 (13.5)	570 (16.1)
Pneumonia	50 (1.4)	71 (2.0)
Emphysema	127 (3.6)	165 (4.7)
Infections, n (%)
High priority	16 (0.4)	29 (0.8)
Moderate/low priority	611 (17.2)	799 (22.6)
Re-admission to hospital, n (%)	17 (0.5)	10 (0.3)
In-hospital mortality, n (%)	115 (3.2)	144 (4.1)
Total sealant units across all discharges	4,747	5,520
Sealant units per discharge
Mean (95% CI)	1.33 (1.31–1.36)	1.56 (1.52–1.60)
Median (lower IQR, upper IQR)	1.0 (1.0–1.0)	1.0 (1.0–1.0)

^a The analysis is based on non-missing data, so that each end-point has a different set of matched pairs.

Abbreviations. CI, Confidence interval; IQR, Interquartile range.

Figure 1. Standardized differences for key variables, before and after propensity score matching.

Figure 2. Mean hospital LOS per discharge for Progel Sealant and other sealants by statistical method. All differences statistically significant at the p < 0.001 level; p-values assessed using paired t-test.

Figure 3. Mean all-cause hospitalization cost per discharge for Progel Sealant and other sealants by statistical method. All differences statistically significant at the p < .001 level; p-values assessed using paired t-test.