May 25, 2013 — Mortality and length of stay are highest in heart failure patients admitted in January, on Friday, and overnight, according to research presented today at the Heart Failure Congress 2013. The analysis of nearly 1 million heart failure admissions over 14 years was presented by Dr David P. Kao (Denver, Colorado).
The Heart Failure Congress 2013 is taking place during 25-28 May in Lisbon, Portugal. The Congress is the main annual meeting of the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology (1).
Identifying peaks in admissions and mortality should assist targeted resource allocation at higher risk times. Seasonal, weekly and hourly variations have been observed in heart failure admissions but the reasons are unclear. Until now, the relationship of these variations with mortality and length of stay has not been investigated in a single study.
The current study (2) examined the impact of day, month and hour of admission on in-hospital mortality and length of stay in 949,907 hospitalisations for congestive heart failure. Data was analysed from all hospitals in the state of New York from 1994 to 2007. A greater number of factors were included in the analysis than ever before so that the researchers could confirm or refute previous theories on the reasons behind variations in heart failure morbidity and mortality (for example substance use).
The researchers found that daily heart failure admissions increased significantly over time (+1.1 admissions/day/year) while in-hospital mortality and length of stay decreased (-0.3%/year and -0.3 days/year, p
The Heart Failure Congress 2013 is taking place during 25-28 May in Lisbon, Portugal. The Congress is the main annual meeting of the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology (1).
Identifying peaks in admissions and mortality should assist targeted resource allocation at higher risk times. Seasonal, weekly and hourly variations have been observed in heart failure admissions but the reasons are unclear. Until now, the relationship of these variations with mortality and length of stay has not been investigated in a single study.
The current study (2) examined the impact of day, month and hour of admission on in-hospital mortality and length of stay in 949,907 hospitalisations for congestive heart failure. Data was analysed from all hospitals in the state of New York from 1994 to 2007. A greater number of factors were included in the analysis than ever before so that the researchers could confirm or refute previous theories on the reasons behind variations in heart failure morbidity and mortality (for example substance use).
The researchers found that daily heart failure admissions increased significantly over time (+1.1 admissions/day/year) while in-hospital mortality and length of stay decreased (-0.3%/year and -0.3 days/year, p