Patient-Specific Factors Drive Intensive Care Unit and Total Hospital Length of Stay in Operative Patients with Brain Tumor

BACKGROUND: Hospital length of stay (LOS) is an important cost driver in neurosurgery. Broader surgical literature has shown that patient-related factors, including comorbidities, and procedure-related factors, such surgeon experience, may be associated with LOS. Because value optimization strategies may be targeted toward either domain, this study investigated the contributions of patient-related and procedure-related factors in predicting prolonged intensive care unit LOS (iLOS) and total hospital LOS (tLOS). METHODS: Data for adult patients undergoing brain tumor surgery (2017-2019) were collected. Bivariate analyses for iLOS and tLOS were performed using the Mann-Whitney U test and Fisher exact test. Variables associated with either outcome with P < 0.10 were included in patient-only, procedure-only, and patient-+ procedure factor multivariate linear regression models. Model discrimination was quantified using C-statistics. RESULTS: Our 654 patients had a mean age of 57.54 years (standard deviation, +/- 14.34 years). For iLOS, the patient-only model significantly outperformed the procedure-only model (P < 0.0001) and performed similarly to the patient + procedure model (P = 0.50). Other than tumor diagnosis, 5-Factor Modified Frailty Index score was the only factor associated with iLOS (P < 0.001) and tLOS (P < 0.001) on multivariate analysis. When predicting prolonged tLOS, the patient-only model significantly outperformed the procedure-only model (P < 0.0001), and performed similarly to patient + procedure models (P = 0.49). CONCLUSIONS: Patient-specific factors are the main drivers of prolonged iLOS and tLOS among patients with brain tumor. Frailty was significantly associated with both iLOS and tLOS on multivariate analysis. Efforts to improve care value should focus on strategies to optimize patient status, such as prehabilitation and enhanced recovery after surgery.

Automated summary

The study found that patient-specific factors are the main drivers of prolonged intensive care unit LOS and total hospital LOS among patients with brain tumors. The frailty index was significantly associated with both iLOS and tLOS on multivariate analysis.