title: Comparison of length of hospital stay to mortality rate in a regional burn center.
abstract: Data were collected prospectively from 196 patients admitted to our regional burn center during a 10-month period. Fifteen patients died during hospitalization, for a mortality rate of 7.7%. The mean hospital stay of the 181 patients who survived was 13.9 days (+/- 13.7 SD), ranging from 2 to 89 days. The mean burn size was 9.2% (+/- 11% SD), ranging from 0.5% to 60% total body surface area. One hundred ten patients received at least 1 day of antibiotic treatment, and 22 patients required ventilatory support during hospitalization. Hospital stay was longer for those requiring antibiotics (18.6 days vs 7 days) or ventilatory support (34.4 days vs 11.2 days). When these and other variables were entered into a linear regression model, the most powerful predictors of hospital stay were burn size and duration of antibiotic use (p = 0.0001), followed next by the presence of other traumatic injuries (p = 0.047).
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery and Epidemiology & Public Health, University of Miami School of Medicine, FL 33101, USA.
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Peck
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mantelle
authors.forename: C G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Ward
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002053:Burn Units / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002056:Burns / Q000401:mortality* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016014:Linear Models; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate