The association between smoking status and hospital length of stay: evidence from a hospital-based cohort

ABSTRACT

Objectives: Smoking is recognized as one of the main preventable causes of mortality and morbidity that imposes a high financial burden on healthcare systems and society. This study aimed to examine the association between smoking status and hospital length of stay (LOS) among patients with lung cancer (LC), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and ischemic heart diseases (IHD) in Iran in 2014.

Methods: A total of 1271 patients (415 LC patients, 427 COPD patients and 429 IHD patients) were included in the study. Data on age, sex, insurance status and LOS was extracted from the patients’ medical records and smoking status was obtained from the patients using telephone survey. The LOS among current smokers, former smokers, and nonsmokers was compared using a zero-truncated poisson regression. Analysis was done using STATA v.12.

Results: The mean LOS for current smokers, former smokers and nonsmokers was 9.4±8.4, 7.3 ±5.3 and 6.02±5.05 days, respectively. The unadjusted and adjusted probabilities of LOS for current smokers and former smokers were 56% and 21% and 48% and 15% higher, respectively, than when compared with the nonsmoker category.

Conclusion: The study demonstrated longer LOS for the current and former smokers, contributing to the drain on large hospital resources in Iran. The results of the study provide useful information for health-policy makers that contribute to the planning and designing of smoking cessation interventions in this area.

KEYWORDS:

• Smoking status
• hospital length of stay
• zero-truncated poisson
• Iran

Acknowledgments

This article was part of a PhD thesis in Health Economics by Satar Rezaei which was funded and supported by Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Declaration of interests

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.