• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.136-143
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• 2024

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the associations of obesity and clinical characteristics including interleukin-6 (IL-6) with hospital length of stay (LOS) in coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) patients in Korea. Methods: A retrospective descriptive study design was employed to analyze medical data from a government-designated hospital in a city of Korea. Clinical data were collected from 256 patients with COVID-19 in negative-pressure isolation wards in 2021. The following parameters were analyzed: body mass index (BMI), IL-6 levels, age, sex, comorbidities, healthy habitsat the time ofadmission, and LOS. The statistical package SPSS 26.0 was used for descriptive statistics, the independent t-test, the chi-square test, and partial correlation coefficients. Results: The age of COVID-19 patients was positively correlated with BMI (r = -.16, p = .012), IL-6 levels (r = .14, p = .022) and LOS (r = .26, p < .001). Obesity, non-drinking, hypertension, and older age were associated with longer LOS. Conclusion: These results suggest that age, obesity, and hypertension in COVID-19 patients are related to LOS. Studies investigating other factors that can affect long-term hospitalization in COVID-19 patients are suggested.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.541-564
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• 2011

This study aimed to investigate health outcome of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients such as mortality and length of stay in hospital and to identify factors associated with the health outcome according to the comorbidity index. Nation-wide representative samples of 3,748 adult inpatients aged between 20-85 years with acute myocardial infarction were derived from the Korea National Hospital Discharge Injury Survey, 2005-2008. Comorbidity index was measured using the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI). The data were analyzed using t-test, ANOVA, multiple regression, logistic regression analysis in order to investigate the effect of comorbidity on health outcome. According to the study results, the factors associated with length of hospital stay of acute myocardial infarction patients were gender, insurance type, residential area scale, admission route, PCI perform, CABG perform, and CCI. The factors associated with mortality of acute myocardial infarction patients were age, admission route, PCI perform, and CCI. CCI with a higher length of hospital stay and mortality also increased significantly. This study demonstrated comorbidity risk adjustment for health outcome and presented important data for health care policy. In the future study, more detailed and adequate comorbidity measurement tool should be developed, so patients' severity can be adjusted accurately.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.131-144
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• 2015

Objectives : This study investigated the health care utilization patterns and length of stay (LOS) determinants of fracture patients with workers' compensation insurance (WCI) and national health insurance (NHI). Methods : The discharge summary data of 4,394 WCI fracture patients were compared to 28,874 NHI patients. Health care utilization characteristics were compared with a logistic regression analysis, and the LOS determinants were identified with linear regression analysis. Results : The average LOS of the WCI fracture patients was 2.4 times higher than that of the NHI patients. WCI patients used more small or medium sized hospitals, and were more frequently admitted through the emergency room. Females, older patients and patients admitted through emergency room had a significant positive impact on LOS. Conclusions : Healthcare utilization by the WCI fracture patients may include medically unnecessary hospital stays. Therefore, policy makers need to respond appropriately to the inefficient use of health resources by WCI patients.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.22-27
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• 2017

The length of hospital stay (LOS) for patients with respiratory virus infections has been reported to depend the virus type and infection severity. However, the impact of co-infections remains unclear. Patients with suspected respiratory virus infections, who visited Dankook University Hospital between December 2006 and February 2014, were included to examine the relationship between co-infections and LOS. Multiplex reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reactions were used to identify the causative viruses. LOS was analyzed with respect to sex, age, virus, and co-infection. During this period, 5,310 out of the 8,860 patients (59.9%; median age, 1.5 years) were respiratory virus-positive. In respiratory virus-positive patients with single, double, and three-or-more infections, the average LOS was 7.3, 6.7, and 6.6 days, respectively. Longer LOS was observed for older patients and those with human coronavirus OC43 infections compared with adenovirus or respiratory syncytial virus A infections. LOS differed significantly according to age, virus type, and co-infection, but not between double and three or more infections.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.48-53
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• 1999

This study was prospectively conducted to investigate any relationship of nutritional status at the time of admission to length of hospital stay and mortality. All patients admitted to the Asan Medical Center between October 13 and November 12, 1997 who met the study criteria were included in the study. Patients were classified as Not-at-risk, At-risk Ⅰ or At-risk Ⅱ based on the levels of serum albumin and total lymphocyte count in a computerized nutrition screening program. Sixty three percent of the patients were classified as Not-at-risk Group, 29% as At-risk Group Ⅰ and 8% as At-risk Group Ⅱ. Significant correlation was observed between nutritional status and LOS (P＜0.01) as well as mortality rate (P＜0.05). The more the patient had the nutritional risk factors, the longer the LOS and the higher the mortality rate were. Further studies have to be done in order to demonstrate cost-effectiveness of medical therapy for the malnourished hospitalized patients.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2016

Objectives : Medical service specialization could have positive effects on their profits and medical service quality. This study was to examine the relationship between medical service specializations and operational performance in hospitals. Methods : We used the National Inpatient Sample data provided by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service from 2010 to 2013. The hospital operational performance was determined by measuring the specialization level of the hospital based on DRGs. Results : The information theory index was 2.38 in 2010, 2.38 in 2011, 2.37 in 2012, and 2.37 in 2013. A multiple regression model was constructed which showed that if the specialization level becomes higher, it decreases the length of stay per case with an increase in medical expense. Conclusions : Differentiation and concentrated medical service specialization strategy have had a positive effect on the operational performance of hospitals.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.33-49
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• 2017

Background: Health care utilizations and costs of the patients with degenerative lumbar spine disease in Korea increased dramatically. We analyzed whether hospital market competition is associated with charges and length of stay for patients with degenerative lumbar spine disease. Methods: We used Medical claims data of 2002 and 2010 from the nationwide representative sample of National Health Insurance Service of Korea. The study subjects were inpatients with degenerative lumbar spine disease (N=24,768) in 2002 and 2010. We employed a multilevel linear mixed model that included patient- and hospital-level variables in hierarchical data. Results: Higher hospital competition was associated with lower charges (${\beta}=57.5$, p<.0001 in 2002; ${\beta}=353.7$, p<.0001 in 2010) and shorter length of stay (${\beta}=0.3$, p<.0001 in 2002; ${\beta}=0.9$, p<.0001 in 2010) in both 2002 and 2010. Compared to 2002, the magnitude of such association became greater in 2010. However, subgroup analyses show that the influence of competition on charges and length of stay differed by hospital size. Conclusions: This study showed that hospital market structure (e.g., hospital competition) affects hospital efficiency (i.e., hospital charges and length of stay). It is necessary to continue to monitor how changing market structure influences hospital outcomes, including more detailed outcomes such as patient satisfaction.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.401-410
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• 2017

This study aimed to identify appropriateness and efficiency in the DRG payment system by analysing the hospital length of stay and changes in fees before and after the application of DRG payment system. The subjects of the study were a total of 398 patients consisting of 204 for the fee for service system and 194 for the DRG payment system. They received surgery in the Obstetrics and Gynecology (OBGY) department of a general hospital in G metropolitan city between January and December 2013. The mean hospital length of stay was significantly decreased after application of the DRG payment system(p=0.013). Total fees, insurance charges, and deductions increased significantly(p<0.001), and non-payment charges and total deductions decreased significantly(p<0.001). Application of the DRG payment system reduced length of stay, non-payment charges and total patient's cost sharing and increased out-of-pocket, insurance charges, and total fees.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.345-352
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• 2019

This study aims to analyze the factors affecting the length of stay in elderly pediatric inpatients in traffic accidents. We used Korean National Hospital Discharge In-depth Injury data on the discharged from 2012 to 2016. Statistically significant factors affecting the length of stay are admission route, Charlson Comorbidity Index(CCI), injury parts, operation, results, hospital area, and beds for hospitals. The length of stay was shorter in the case of the admission route of the outpatient department than the emergency room, the results were not improved or death rather than improved, and the bed size was 500-999 beds or over 1000 beds rather than 100-299 beds. However, the length of stay was longer in the case of CCI score was 1-2 or over 3 rather than 0, injury parts were other parts rather than head/neck, when the operation was yes, and when the hospital area was a province, metropolitan rather than Seoul. This study intends to understand the medical characteristics of inpatient to prevent pedestrian traffic accidents in accordance with the population aging. Based on this finding, we wish to be used as the basic data for the establishment of policies to effectively manage traffic safety and medical resources in consideration of the characteristics of the elderly people.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.900-909
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• 2013

This study purposed to analyze the determinants of length of stay for patients having alzheimer dementia in geriatric hospitals. Sample data was collected from the National Patient Sample (NPS) produced by the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service (HIRA) in 2009. Total 538 alzheimer inpatients over 65 years were used in the analysis. Patients were classified into 5 risk groups to represent the case-mix differences of patients. Organizational characteristics of geriatric hospitals such as number of beds, doctors, and nurses were included in the analysis model. In multivariate regression analysis, hospital variables were not statistically significant in explaining the length of stay. Two risk group were statistically significant in analysis, However, their signs of relationship with the dependent variable were opposite to the expectations. These results suggest that the characteristics of patients and hospitals did not have impacts on the length of stay. There will be needs to test the effects of other factor such as social needs which represents the socio-economic status of the family for the patients.