Objective
The length of hospital stay (LOS) allows for the evaluation of the efficiency of a given hospital facility, as well as providing a basis for measuring the number of hospital beds required to provide assistance to the population in a specific area.
Methods
A retrospective survey was conducted on a database of 3,010 patients submitted to coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) from July, 2009 to July, 2010.
Results
Among 2,840 patients that met the inclusion criteria, 92.1% had their surgery paid by the Brazilian Unified Health System (Sistema Único de Saúde - SUS) and 7.9% by health plans or themselves (non-SUS). 70.2% were male, the average age was 61.9 years old, and the average risk score (EuroScore) was 2.9%. The SUS and the non-SUS groups did not differ regarding the waiting time for surgery (WTS) (2.59 ± 3.10 vs. 3.02 ± 3.70 days for SUS and non-SUS respectively; p = 0.790), but did differ with respect to the length of stay in intensive care unit (2.17 ± 3.84 vs. 2.52 ± 2.72 days for SUS and non-SUS respectively; p < 0.001), the postoperative period (8.34 ± 10.32 vs. 9.19 ± 6.97 days for SUS and non-SUS respectively; p < 0.001), and the total LOS (10.93 ± 11.08 vs. 12.21 ± 8.20 days for SUS and non-SUS respectively; p < 0.001). The non-SUS group had more events of non-elective surgery (p = 0.002) and surgery without cardiopulmonary bypass (p = 0.012). The groups did not differ regarding the associated valve procedure (p = 0.057) nor other non-valve procedures (p = 0.053), but they did differ with respect to associated non-cardiac procedures (p = 0.017). ICU readmission (p = 0.636) and postoperative complications rates were similar in both groups (p = 0.055).
Conclusion
The Non-SUS group showed longer LOS compared to the SUS group.