Effects of Statins on Hospital Length of Stay and All-Cause Readmissions Among Hospitalized Patients With a Primary Diagnosis of Sepsis.
BACKGROUND
There is little information on the impact of statins on hospital length of stay (LOS) or readmission among patients with sepsis.


OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study is to evaluate the association between statin use and LOS and all-cause readmissions among sepsis patients hospitalized in the medical unit.


METHODS
The design was a retrospective propensity score-matched study of adult patients with a primary diagnosis of sepsis from 2007 to 2013. Information was extracted from the electronic health record. Sepsis patients were identified using ICD-9CM codes. Propensity scores estimated the probability that a patient would be on statins, and patients who were on statins were then matched with those who were not, within ±0.05. Additional greedy matching criteria were organ dysfunction (yes/no) and all patient refined diagnosis-related group (APR-DRG) medical/surgical. The primary outcome was LOS, and the secondary outcomes were all-cause readmission at 30, 60, and 90 days, adjusted for age, sex, modified Deyo-Charlson comorbidity index, APR-DRG severity of illness (SOI), and APR-DRG medical/surgical, as appropriate.


RESULTS
Patients taking statins had a shorter LOS than patients not taking statins, 8.7 ± 3.7 and 10.3 ± 2.7 days, respectively (P value = 0.018). There was no significant difference (P> 0.05) in all cause readmissions between statin and nonstatin patients. Presence of comorbidities and SOI were significant factors for 60- and 90-day readmissions.


CONCLUSIONS
The use of statins among patients admitted with primary sepsis in the medical unit was associated with shorter length of hospital stay. However, it did not affect frequency of readmissions.
Ferris State University, Grand Rapids, MI, USA preseoapc@msn.com.
Arinze
A
Nkemdirim Okere
Essentia Health, Duluth, MN, USA.
Colleen M
CM
Renier
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015897:Comorbidity; D003953:Diagnosis-Related Groups; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010359:Patient Readmission; D057216:Propensity Score; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018805:Sepsis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology
D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors
HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors; hospital length of stay (LOS); readmissions; sepsis; septic patients; statin