Comparative Study on the Costs of Treating Diabetic Foot, Necrotizing Fasciitis, and Stage IV Pressure Ulcers

Abstract

Objective: To compare the total treatment costs for patients with diabetic foot with osteomyelitis, necrotizing fasciitis, and stage IV pressure ulcers in Dalian city, to explore the economic burden of diferent types of chronic wounds. Methods: Aretrospective analysis design was used, collecting data from 18 patients (6 of each wound type) from the electronic medical record system of a large hospital in Dalian. One-way ANOVAand Tukey’s HSD post-hoc tests were applied to compare the treatment costs of diferent wound types. Results: The treat-ment costs for the necrotizing fasciitis group were signifcantly higher than those for the stage IV pressure ulcer group, while the costs for the diabetic foot group did not show signifcant diferences from the other two groups. This fnding highlights the impact of chronic wound types on treatment costs and the importance of early intervention. Conclusion: The results provide data support for the optimized allocation of med-ical resources, especially in a context of limited resources. They emphasize the necessity of early identifcation and management of chronic wounds and provide a basis for establishing cost-efective treatment strategies.