Objective
Length of Stay (LOS) is a major driver of inpatient care costs. To date, few studies have investigated risk factors associated with increased LOS in adult congenital heart disease (ACHD) patients. In the present work, we sought to address this knowledge gap.
Methods
We conducted an analysis of the State Inpatient Databases from Arkansas, California, Florida, Hawaii, Nebraska, and New York. We analyzed data on admissions in ACHD patients and constructed a series of hierarchical regression models to identify the clinical factors having the greatest effects on LOS.
Results
We identified 99,103 inpatient hospitalizations meeting criteria for inclusion. Diagnoses associated with the longest LOS were septicemia (LOS = 14.2 days in ASD patients, and 11.7 days among all other ACHD) and peri-, endo-, and myocarditis (LOS = 13.6 days and 10.0 days respectively). When separated by underlying anatomy, the variables most consistently associated with longer LOS were bacterial infection, complications of surgeries or medical care, acute renal disease, and anemia.
Conclusions
In the present study, we identified risk factors associated with longer LOS in ACHD. These data may be used to identify at risk patients for targeted intervention to decrease LOS and thereby cost.