Variations in the postoperative length of stay according to patient characteristics in a general surgery service

With the purpose of identifying factors that explain variations in length of postoperative stay in a general surgery unit, information from 666 clinical records of discharged alive patients was collected. Factors related to the surgical procedure, the severity of the disease and the medical team together with sociodemographic characteristics of the patients were analyzed. Statistical analysis was based on analysis of variance and multiple linear regression. Variables with statistically significant regression coefficients (p < 0.001) were in this order: severity of complications, type of intervention, need for reintervention and severity of diagnosis. Sixty-seven percent of length of stay variation was explained by the included variables. Results allow to suggest an evaluation procedure which takes into account patient and operation characteristics.