Factors Contributing to Extended Hospital Length of Stay in Emergency General Surgery†

Background Emergency general surgery (EGS) is a field characterized by disproportionately high costs, post-operative mortality, and complications. We attempted to identify independent factors predictive of an increased postoperative length of stay (LOS), a key contributor to economic burden and worse outcomes. Methods The ACS-NSQIP database was queried for data from2005 to 2017. Current procedural terminology (CPT) codes were used to identify the most commonly performed EGS procedures: appendectomy, bowel resection, colectomy, and cholecystectomy. Cohorts above and below 75(th)percentile LOS were determined, compared by preoperative variables, and evaluated with univariate and multivariate logistic regression to quantify risk. Results Of 267,495 cases, 70,703 cases were above the 75(th)percentile for LOS. A larger proportion of patients in the extended LOS group were 41 years or older (88.6% vs 45.7%). More Blacks (10.3% vs 6.7%) were observed in the extended LOS group. Age, race, cardiopulmonary, hepatic, and renal disease, diabetes, recent weight loss, steroid use, and sepsis history were significant factors on multivariate analysis but varied in terms of risk proportion by procedure. Age (61+), Black race, hypertension, sepsis, and cancer were significant for all 4 procedures. Conclusions Several factors are independently associated with extended LOS for those undergoing the most common EGS procedures. Five of these were associated with an increased LOS for all four procedures. These included, age (61+), hypertension, sepsis, cancer, and Black race.

Automated summary

The study identifies independent factors associated with extended length of stay (LOS) after emergency general surgery (EGS), including age, race, cardiopulmonary, hepatic, and renal disease, diabetes, recent weight loss, steroid use, and sepsis history. Factors like age (61+), hypertension, sepsis, cancer, and Black race were found to be significant across all four common EGS procedures.