PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Shiva Bikmalla
AU  - Masood Khalil
AU  - Muhammed Ganaie
TI  - Predictors of length of stay in hospitalized patients with community acquired pneumonia
DP  - 2013 Sep 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - P2757
VI  - 42
IP  - Suppl 57
4099  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/42/Suppl_57/P2757.short
4100  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/42/Suppl_57/P2757.full
SO  - Eur Respir J2013 Sep 01; 42
AB  - Introduction:The proportion of patients with community acquired pneumonia (CAP) requiring hospitalisation range from 22-42%. In our centre the median length of stay was high compared to national average. This has major impact on the utilisation of health care resources. Therefore we aimed to identify the predictors of length of stay in patients with CAP.Methods:A prospective data collection over a period of 60 days (Dec 2012- Jan 2013) in a single tertiary centre. We included all patients admitted with symptoms of lower respiratory tract infection and has confirmation of pneumonia based on new infiltrates on the chest radiograph.Results:Data was collected on 50 patients who were consecutively selected based on the inclusion criteria. The median age was 72 years (range 23-98) and 54% were women. The median length of stay was 9 (range 2-35). Eleven patients (22%) who died during the stay had median age of 86 years. Patients with chronic lung conditions have higher length of stay (relative risk of 1.65). In our cohort hypoxia on admission, high CURB65 score, female sex, sputum production and pyrexia above 38c have shown increase in the length of stay.View this table:Predictors of length of stayDiscussion:Through our study we have been able to identify predictive markers of length of stay in hospital. However large, multi-centred studies are required to describe the parameters with high significance, which would help in organising effective and safe early discharge planning.