Factors associated with hospital length of stay among HIV-infected adults in Louisiana

This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the effect of predisposing (demographic), enabling (organizational), and illness (health status) factors on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency virus (AIDS)-related hospital length of stay (LOS). Inpatient hospital visit record data from 1998 through 2003 was abstracted from the Louisiana Hospital Inpatient Discharge Database. We hypothesized that enabling, not predisposing or illness factors, influenced hospital LOS among HIV-infected persons in Louisiana. Analyses were performed for the six-year period and then repeated for each year of admission. Aggregate multivariable analysis revealed that the LOS for rural residents was more than one-third longer than for urban residents (p = 0.025). This effect was consistent for each year of analysis, although it failed to reach statistical significance after adjusting for other covariates. Subjects' gender and age categories were found to be insignificant predictors for the LOS, controlling for other covariates in model. Other significant independent predictors of LOS in the aggregate time series model were number of comorbid conditions, number of inpatient medical procedures, presence of an AIDS defining illness, and source and type of admission; although effects of only the first two predictors were significant at each year of analysis (all p-values.05). This study shows that neither gender nor age of HIV patients is a significant predictor of HIV-related LOS. However, the number of comorbid conditions and inpatient medical procedures are significant.