Length of hospital stay and associated factors among heart failure patients admitted to the University Hospital in Northwest Ethiopia.

Abstract

BackgroundA prolonged length of hospital stay during heart failure-related hospitalization results in frequent readmission and high mortality. The study was aimed to determine the length of hospital stays and associated factors among heart failure patients.MethodsA prospective hospital-based cross-sectional study was carried out to determine the length of hospital stay and associated factors among heart failure patients admitted to the medical ward of the University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital from January 2019 to June 2020. Multiple linear regression was used to identify factors associated with length of hospital stay and reported with a 95% Confidence Interval (CI). P-value ≤ 0.05 was considered as statistically significant to declare the association.ResultA total of 263 heart failure patients (mean age: 51.08 ± 19.24 years) were included. The mean length of hospital stay was 17.29 ± 7.27 days. Number of comorbidities (B = 1.494, p ConclusionHeart failure patients admitted to the medical ward had prolonged hospital stays. Thus, clinicians would be aware of the clinical features contributing to the longer hospital stay and implementation of interventions or strategies that could reduce the heart failure patient's hospital stay is necessary.