PERSONAL HEALTH : Drugs, Hospitals: Expensive Habit

Tobacco, alcohol and illegal-drug-related illnesses and injuries accounted for 28% of the admissions and 39% of the medical costs at the Johns Hopkins Hospital intensive-care unit during a 15-week period in 1989.

In a study appearing in the January issue of the journal Chest, Hopkins researchers headed by Timothy G. Buchman, co-director of the hospital’s surgical ICU, reported that patients who smoked, had a drinking problem or used illegal drugs “had longer ICU stays and higher medical bills.”

Buchman cautioned that the findings do not necessarily apply to other hospitals, “but it is a place to start examining the hidden costs of substance abuse.”

From June to October, 1989, the Hopkins researchers followed 435 patients admitted to the adult ICU. They generated $3,014,953 in costs. ICU beds at the hospital cost as much as $3,000 a night. The report noted that substance-abuse patients tended to have longer stays and higher medical bills unrelated to length of stay.

Tobacco-related cases, involving cancer and respiratory and lung diseases other than cancer, were 14% of admissions and 16% of total costs. Alcohol accounted for 9% of admissions and 13% of costs. Admissions related to illegal drugs were 5% of admissions and 10% of costs.