Pharmacogenomic and drug interaction risk associations with hospital length of stay among Medicare Advantage members with COVID-19
Authors: Ashcraft Kristine , Moretz Chad , Schenning Chantelle , Rojahn Susan , Tanudtanud Kae Vines , Magoncia Gwyn Omar , Reyes Justine , Marquez Bernardo , Guo Yinglong , Erdemir Elif Tokar , Hall Taryn O. 
Published: May 2021

Importance

COVID-19 has severely impacted older populations and strained healthcare resources, with many patients requiring long periods of hospitalization. Reducing the hospital length of stay (LOS) reduces patient and hospital burden. Given that adverse drug reactions are known to prolong LOS, unmanaged pharmacogenomic risk and drug interactions among COVID-19 patients may be a risk factor for longer hospital stays.

Objective

The objective of this study was to determine if pharmacogenomic and drug interaction risks were associated with longer lengths of stay among high-risk patients hospitalized with COVID-19.

Design

Retrospective cohort study of medical and pharmacy claims

Setting

Administrative database from a large U.S. health insurance company

Participants

Medicare Advantage members with a first COVID-19 hospitalization between January 2020 and June 2020, who did not die during the stay.

Exposures

(1) Pharmacogenetic interaction probability (PIP) of ≤25% (low), 26%–50% (moderate), or >50% (high), which indicate the likelihood that one or more clinically actionable gene-drug or gene-drug-drug interactions would be identified with testing; (2) drug-drug interaction (DDI) severity of minimal, minor, moderate, major, or contraindicated, which indicate the severity of an interaction between two or more active medications.

Main Outcomes and Measures

The primary outcome was hospital length of stay. Results were stratified by hierarchical condition categories (HCC) counts and chronic conditions.

Results

A total of 6,025 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 were included in the study. Patients with moderate or high PIP were hospitalized for 9% (CI: 4%–15%; p < 0.001) and 16% longer (CI: 8%–24%; p < 0.001), respectively, compared to those with low PIP, whereas RAF score was not associated with LOS. High PIP was significantly associated with 12%–22% longer lengths of stay compared to low PIP in patients with hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, or COPD. Finally, among patients with 2 or 3 HCCs, a 10% longer length of stay was observed among patients with moderate or more severe DDI compared to minimal or minor DDI.

Conclusions and Relevance

Proactively mitigating pharmacogenomic risk has the potential to reduce length of stay in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 especially those with COPD, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension.

Key Points

Question

What is the impact of unmanaged pharmacogenomic risk among patients hospitalized with COVID-19?

Findings

Among 6,025 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, those with greater unmanaged pharmacogenomic risk for adverse drug reactions had longer hospital stays than those with lower risk, both within the entire cohort and within groups matched by number and type of chronic conditions.

Meaning

Preemptive pharmacogenomic testing may shorten hospital stay by reducing adverse drug reactions among seriously ill patients and more broadly improve patient risk classification, care utilization predictions, and health system performance.