Tolvaptan Appears to Save Money for Heart Failure Patients with Hyponatremia

Tolvaptan appears to have both clinical and economic benefits for heart failure patients with hyponatremia, reports a study published online last week in the Journal of Medical Economics.

Using the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project 2008 Nationwide Inpatient Sample database, the researchers determined that adult heart failure patients with complications and comorbidities or major complications and comorbidities had an average length of stay (LOS) in the hospital of 5.4 days and average total hospital costs of $8,415. From the Efficacy of Vasopressin Antagonism in Heart Failure Outcome Study with Tolvaptan (EVEREST) trial, they determined that use of tolvaptan on heart failure patients with hyponatremia was associated with shorter hospital stays compared with placebo patients—9.72 days vs. 11.44 days.

The researchers estimated an inpatient tolvaptan treatment duration of four days and a wholesale acquisition cost of $250 per day. In addition, they estimated a reduction in hospital LOS among heart failure patients with hyponatremia due to tolvaptan use of 0.81 days and a total cost saving of $265 per admission.