Hospital length of stay throughout bed pathways and factors affecting this time: A non-concurrent cohort study of Colombia COVID-19 patients and an unCoVer network project

Lina Marcela Ruiz Galvis (Corresponding Author), Carlos Andrés Pérez Aguirre, Juan Pablo Pérez Bedoya, Oscar Ignacio Mendoza Cardozo, Noël Christopher Barengo, Juan Pablo Sánchez Escudero, Johnatan Cardona Jiménez, Paula Andrea Diaz Valencia

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Abstract

Predictions of hospital beds occupancy depends on hospital admission rates and the length of stay (LoS) according to bed type (general ward -GW- and intensive care unit -ICU- beds). The objective of this study was to describe the LoS of COVID-19 hospital patients in Colombia during 2020-2021. Accelerated failure time models were used to estimate the LoS distribution according to each bed type and throughout each bed pathway. Acceleration factors and 95% confidence intervals were calculated to measure the effect on LoS of the outcome, sex, age, admission period during the epidemic (i.e., epidemic waves, peaks or valleys, and before/after vaccination period), and patients geographic origin. Most of the admitted COVID-19 patients occupied just a GW bed. Recovered patients spent more time in the GW and ICU beds than deceased patients. Men had longer LoS than women. In general, the LoS increased with age. Finally, the LoS varied along epidemic waves. It was lower in epidemic valleys than peaks, and decreased after vaccinations began in Colombia. Our study highlights the necessity of analyzing local data on hospital admission rates and LoS to design strategies to prioritize hospital beds resources during the current and future pandemics.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere0278429
Pages (from-to)1-12
Number of pages12
JournalPloS one
Volume18
Issue number7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 26 Jul 2023
Externally publishedYes

Field of Science*

  • 3.3 Health sciences

Publication Type*

  • 1.1. Scientific article indexed in Web of Science and/or Scopus database

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