Abstract TP228: Factors Associated with Hospital Length of Stay in Patients with Non-Traumatic Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

Introduction: Patients with non-traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) often have complex hospital courses, due to complications including vasospasm and hydrocephalus. Prolonged length of stay (LOS) in the hospital can be associated with unfavorable outcomes such as hospital-acquired infections, pressure ulcers, and increased burden on the healthcare system. In our cohort of patients with non-traumatic SAH, we sought to identify factors associated with LOS at our tertiary care hospital. Methods: Using ICD-10 codes, we extracted data from all patients discharged with a diagnosis of SAH at our hospital from July 2023-December 2024. Patients were excluded if they deceased in the hospital or had traumatic SAH. We collected information on sex, age, Hunt-Hess score (a clinical scale with higher ratings indicating more severe presentation), Modified Fisher score (a radiographic scale with higher ratings indicating more severe SAH), whether or not patients required open intervention for aneurysm treatment, and whether or not they had an external ventricular drain (EVD) placed. Statistics were performed in Stata software. Unpaired two-tailed t-tests were used for categorical variables. Pearson correlation coefficients were used for continuous variables and Spearman correlation coefficients were used for ordinal variables. Results: Our cohort consisted of 69 patients (Table 1). LOS was not associated with age (Pearson correlation coefficient=0.04, p=0.74), sex (mean 17.9 days in women, 14.9 days in men, p=0.21), or open intervention (mean 17.1 days in open group compared to 16.7, p=0.90). LOS was associated with Hunt-Hess score (Spearman correlation coefficient=0.48, p<0.01), Modified Fisher score (Spearman correlation coefficient=0.51, p<0.01), and EVD (mean 21.3 days compared to 13.1, p<0.01) (Tables 2 and 3). Conclusions: In our cohort of patients with SAH, Hunt-Hess score, Modified Fisher score, and EVD placement were all associated with longer hospital LOS. Age, sex, and open surgical intervention were not associated with longer LOS. Understanding factors that contribute to LOS in our SAH patients can help us set expectations with families at time of admission and can help identify patients that may be at higher risk for hospital-acquired complications. The finding that open surgical intervention did not increase LOS is somewhat unexpected but may reflect faster recovery times with modern surgical techniques.