Introduction: The understanding of healthcare resource utilisation and its related costs is crucial for optimizing resource allocation in the healthcare setting. There is currently a paucity of published studies investigating healthcare costs related to long QT syndrome (LQTS). Method: This was a retrospective study of LQTS patients from Hong Kong, China. The healthcare resource utilisation for Accident and Emergency (A&E), inpatient and specialist outpatient settings across a 19-year period was extracted and analysed. Costs in US dollars were calculated using unit costs. Results: The cohort consists of 125 LQTS patients with a mean presentation age of 26.7 +/- 22.0 years old. Of these, 45 patients presented with ventricular tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation (VT/VF) and 44 patients had an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) implementation. At the individual patient level, the median annualised costs were $69 (30-183) at the A&E setting, $10270 (2248-64006) at the inpatient setting and $675 (393-1329) at the special outpatient setting. Patients who presented with VT/VF initially had significantly higher annualised median costs in the inpatient ($59843 [13812-214930] vs. $5480 [1162-23111], p<0.0001) and specialist outpatient setting ($823 [539-1694] vs $609 [383-1269], p=0.133) compared to patients without VT/VF initially. Conclusion: There is an increasing healthcare demand in the inpatient and specialist outpatient settings for LQTS patients. The most expensive attendance type was inpatient setting stay at $10270 per year. The total median annualised cost of LQTS patients without VT/VF was 90% lower compared to patients with VT/VF.

The authors have declared no competing interest.

This study was funded by a clinical assistant professorship at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.

Yes

The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

This study on cardiac arrhythmias was approved by The Joint Chinese University of Hong Kong-New Territories East Cluster Clinical Research Ethics Committee.

I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals.

Yes

I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance).

Yes

I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines and uploaded the relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material as supplementary files, if applicable.

Yes

All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the authors