Hospital Length of Stay and Related Factors for COVID-19 Inpatients Among the Four Southern Regions Under the Proposed Southern Business Unit of Saudi Arabia

Abdullah A Alharbi; Khalid I Alqumaizi; Ibrahim Bin Hussain; Nasser S AlHarbi; Abdulmalik Alqahtani; Wala Alzawad; Hussam M Suhail; Mohammed I Alamir; Mohammed A Alharbi; Hamad Alzamanan

doi:10.2147/JMDH.S362625

Hospital Length of Stay and Related Factors for COVID-19 Inpatients Among the Four Southern Regions Under the Proposed Southern Business Unit of Saudi Arabia

J Multidiscip Healthc. 2022 Apr 20:15:825-836. doi: 10.2147/JMDH.S362625. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Family and Community Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Jazan University, Jazan City, Jazan, Saudi Arabia.
² Family Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, AlMaarefa University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
³ Department of Pediatrics, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Al Faisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Southern Business Unit, Health Holding Company Project, Healthcare Transformation, Vision Realization Office, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Ophthalmology Department, Prince Sultan Medical Military City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ Eastern Business Unit, Health Holding Company Project, Healthcare Transformation, Vision Realization Office, Ministry of Health, Khobar, Saudi Arabia.
⁹ Faculty of Medicine, Jazan University, Jazan City, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁰ The Vision Realization Office (VRO), Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Objective: To assess the length of stay (LoS) variation for COVID-19 inpatients among the four regions of the Southern Business Unit (SBU).

Methods: This is a comparative retrospective study of the LoS of COVID-19 inpatients in the four regions of the SBU in the KSA. Data was collected from the Ministry of Health (MoH) in all hospitals in the SBU. Participants were all patients admitted with confirmed COVID-19 between March 2020 and February 2021. Variables included region (variable of interest), demographics, comorbidities, and complications. Multilinear regression was performed to control for any factors that might have had an association with LoS.

Results: The mean LoS of the total sample was 10 days and Bisha (the reference) was 7 days. Compared to Bisha, LoS in Jazan was 34% longer, in Najran 62% longer, and Aseer 40% longer. We observed that other factors also had an association with LoS, compared to Bisha, compared to the references, Saudi patients had a 15% shorter stay; admission to ICU increased LoS by 57%; patients who died during hospitalization had a 39% shorter LoS; the complications from COVID-19 of acute kidney injury and ARDS increased LoS by 22% and 48% respectively.

Conclusion: After statistically controlling for confounders, this study reveals that LoS was significantly impacted by region in the SBU in the KSA. We recommend that further study be conducted to illuminate the underlying causes of this variation which may be organizational or structural to ensure high quality of care, access to care, and equity of resources throughout all regions of the SBU in accordance with the new Model of Care in Vision 2030.

Keywords: COVID-19; Health Holding Company; KSA; Southern Business Unit; length of stay.

Grants and funding

This study did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, Profit, or not-for-profit sectors.