DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LONG-STAY AND SHORT-STAY INPATIENTS AND ESTIMATION OF LENGTH OF STAY - A PROSPECTIVE-STUDY

To find possible differences between new long-stay inpatients and pati ents with shorter lengths of stay, a prospective study of 340 inpatien ts in the 4th week of hospitalization was carried out. The new long-st ay patients differed from the others in diagnoses, symptoms, duration of prior hospitalizations, and socio-demographic data. On the basis of the data assessed in the 4 th week of hospitalization, we tried not o nly to predict future new long-stay patients, but also to estimate the length of stay for all 340 patients. A time-function model was employ ed with length of stay as a continuous variable, and this resulted in correct allocation to the quartiles in 38-48 % of the cases. Six varia bles proved to be important for estimating length of stay: emotional w ithdrawal, blunted affect, mannerisms, duration of previous hospitaliz ations, living conditions (prior to admission), and marital status.