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

Substance-Use Disorders in Critically Ill Patients: A Narrative Review

Substance-use disorders (SUDs) represent a major public health concern. The increased prevalence of SUDs within the general population has led to more patients with SUD being admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) for an SUD-related condition or with SUD as a relevant comorbidity. Multiprofessional providers of critical care should be familiar with these disorders and their impact on critical illness. Management of critically ill patients with SUDs is complicated by both acute exposures leading to intoxication, the associated withdrawal syndrome(s), and the physiologic changes associated with chronic use that can cause, predispose patients to, and worsen the severity of other medical conditions. This article reviews the epidemiology of substance use in critically ill patients, discusses the identification and treatment of common intoxication and withdrawal syndromes, and provides evidence-based recommendations for the management of patients exposed to chronic use.

Length of Hospital Stay and Its Predictions Among Patients With Exacerbations of Chronic Respiratory Diseases

BACKGROUND

Chronic respiratory disorders such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may deteriorate into acute exacerbations requiring hospitalization. Assessing the predictors of prolonged hospital stays could help identify potential interventions to reduce the burden on patients and healthcare systems.

AIM

This study aimed to identify the risk factors attributed to prolonged hospital stays among patients admitted with acute exacerbations of chronic respiratory disorders in Jordan.

METHODS

A retrospective cohort study was conducted by reviewing the demographic and clinical characteristics of hospitalized patients with asthma and COPD exacerbations between January 2017 and July 2021. The recorded variables were checked for their independence. Simple and stepwise multivariate linear regressions were then performed to identify variables associated significantly with a longer hospital length of stay (LOS).

RESULTS

A total of 896 cases were evaluated. The mean ± SD stay was 5.66 ± 3.40 days, whereas the median (IQR) was 5.00 (4.00) days. Variables associated significantly with prolonged LOS in the multivariate analysis were female gender (β = 0.089, p = 0.011), pulmonary hypertension (β = 0.093, p = 0.004), allergic rhinitis (β = 0.086, p = 0.007), ICU admission (β = 0.096, p = 0.003), requirement for mechanical ventilation (β = 0.102, p = 0.002), higher total number of medications (β = 0.281, p < 0.001) and the number of exacerbation-related medications (β = 0.200, p < 0.001). However, smoking (β = -0.091, p = 0.008) was significantly associated with a shorter LOS.

CONCLUSIONS

Gender, pulmonary hypertension, allergic rhinitis, ICU admission, mechanical ventilation, the number of medications and smoking were significantly related to LOS. These findings emphasize the importance of patients' demographics and their clinical status in determining LOS, hence providing protective interventions to shorten it.

Impact of Individual Characteristics on Hospital Outcomes in Exacerbated COPD in a Biomass-Exposed Turkish Population

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality globally, and factors such as biomass exposure, demographic characteristics, and comorbidities significantly influence patient outcomes during exacerbations. Aim: This study aims to clarify the impact of patient characteristics on key hospital outcomes, including ICU admissions, hospital length of stay, and in-hospital mortality, focusing on the contextual role of biomass exposure rather than its direct impact. Methods: Using a multicenter, retrospective cohort design, we analyzed the medical records of patients admitted with COPD exacerbations from January 2021 to December 2023. Eligible patients were over 40 years old with confirmed COPD exacerbation, excluding those with other significant lung conditions, severe organ dysfunction, or incomplete data. The collected data included demographics, smoking history, comorbidities, medications, laboratory results, and clinical outcomes, with smoking status categorized into current, former, or never smokers. Results: Our analysis comprised 334 patients with a mean age of 69 ± 8.8 years, including 52 (15.6%) females. Biomass exposure, observed in 22% of patients, was associated with a higher likelihood of being female (p < 0.001), lower smoking rates (p < 0.001), higher prevalence of diabetes mellitus type 2 (p = 0.020), lower peripheral blood eosinophilia (p = 0.001), increased intensive care unit (ICU) admissions (p = 0.034), and higher in-hospital mortality (p = 0.043). Non-survivors tended to be older and had a higher prevalence of hypertension, a history of childhood pneumonia, longer COPD duration, greater need for non-invasive ventilation (NIV) during hospitalization, and more frequent ICU admissions. Univariate Cox regression analysis revealed no significant associations between characteristics and outcomes. Conclusions: Patients with biomass exposure were more likely to be female and had higher rates of ICU admission and in-hospital mortality.

Construction and Comparison of Predictive Models for Length of Stay after Total Knee Arthroplasty: Regression Model and Machine Learning Analysis Based on 1,826 Cases in a Single Singapore Center

The purpose of this study was to develop a predictive model for length of stay (LOS) after total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Between 2013 and 2014, 1,826 patients who underwent TKA from a single Singapore center were enrolled in the study after qualification. Demographics of patients with normal and prolonged LOS were analyzed. The risk variables that could affect LOS were identified by univariate analysis. Predictive models for LOS after TKA by logistic regression or machine learning were constructed and compared. The univariate analysis showed that age, American Society of Anesthesiologist level, diabetes, ischemic heart disease, congestive heart failure, general anesthesia, and operation duration were risk factors that could affect LOS (p < 0.05). Comparing with logistic regression models, the machine learning model with all variables was the best model to predict LOS after TKA, of whose area of operator characteristic curve was 0.738. Machine learning algorithms improved the predictive performance of LOS prediction models for TKA patients.

Quality of life of tobacco users- A correlation with duration of use and nicotine dependence

BACKGROUND

Few studies have investigated the relationship between health-related quality of life and nicotine dependence, while none are from India. This study aims to explore the quality of life among patients with nicotine dependence and examine the clinical and demographic correlates of quality of life.

METHOD

This was a cross-sectional study in which 130 active nicotine dependence individuals were interviewed. Participants were selected using random sampling from the various clinical department of a tertiary health care setting of Northern India. Information about the quality of life and severity of nicotine dependence was assessed using SF-12 and Fagerstrom test for Nicotine Dependence questionnaire. One way ANOVA test compared the means among different tobacco users, while Pearson or Spearman tests assessed the correlation between the quality of life and nicotine dependence.

RESULTS

The mean age of the respondents in the study was 42.72 (SD = 15.68); with 66% using smoking tobacco, 53.07% had a high dependence towards tobacco. We observed a negative correlation between the physical health component and years of regular use (r = -0.503, p < .001). There was also a negative correlation between FTND score and physical health component (r = -.180, p = .049).

CONCLUSION

Duration of tobacco use and the severity of nicotine dependence negatively influence health-related quality of life in treatment-naive individuals.

Factors Influencing the Length of Hospital Stay Among Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) in Macao Population: A Retrospective Study of Inpatient Health Record

Purpose

This study aims to identify the effects of patient and clinical therapy factors on the length of hospital stay (LOS) for admission due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Macao.

Patients and Methods

Health record of patients with COPD admitted to Kiang Wu Hospital from January 2017 to December 2019 was retrospectively analyzed. Demographic information, blood test results, clinical therapies, and LOS were described and analyzed by multivariable regression.

Results

A total of 1116 admissions were included with the average LOS being 12.28 (±9.23) days. Among them, 735 (66.6%) were male with mean age 79.42 (±10.35) years old, 697 were current or previous smokers (62.5%), and 360 (32.2%) had 3 or more comorbidities. During hospitalization, the most common treatments received were oxygen therapy (n=991,88.8%), antibiotics (n=828,74.2%), and systemic steroids (n=596,53.4%); only 120 (10.8%) had pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) and 128 (11.5%) received noninvasive ventilation (NIV). Inhaled medications were used during nearly 95% of hospitalization cases, while 2 and 3 types of inhaled medications were used during 230 (20.6%) and 582 (52.2%) hospitalization cases, respectively. Patient factors including age (B=0.178, 95% CI:0.535–1.072), being female (B=−1.147, 95% CI:-0.138–0.056), being current (B=−0.086, 95% CI:-0.124–0.018) or previous smoker (B=0.072, 95% CI:0.004–0.087), having 1, 2, 3 and over 3 comorbidities (B=0.126, 95% CI:0.034–0.147; B=0.125, 95% CI:0.031–0.144; B=0.116, 95% CI:0.028–0.146, B=0.090, 95% CI:0.021–0.166) and having low hemoglobin level (B=−0.118, 95% CI:-0.629- −0.214) exhibited significant associations with LOS. The use of NIV (B=0.080, 95% CI:0.022–0.138), pulmonary rehabilitation (B=0.269, 95% CI:0.212–0.327), two and three types of inhaled medications (B=0.109, 95% CI:0.003–0.166, B=0.255, 95% CI:0.083–0.237) were significantly associated with longer LOS (P<0.05).

Conclusion

NIV, PR and combined inhaled medications, which are often used for AECOPD, are the main clinical therapies associated with longer LOS in Macao. Smoking cessation, early treatments of comorbidities may be crucial to avoiding AECOPD and reducing LOS and disease burden.

Environmental and economics-related factors of smoking among Iranian adults aged 35-70: a PERSIAN cohort-based cross-sectional study

The prevalence of smoking in developing countries is known as a significant public health problem, and it is correlated with different demographic and socio-economic factors. This study aimed to determine the environmental and economical related factors of smoking among Iranian adults aged 35 to 70 years. The study sample consisted of 20,152 of Ardabil population aged 35-70 years which was enrolled in the PERSIAN cohort study. Smoking status during the last year was defined as dependent variable and demographic and socio-economic factors considered as independent variables. To identify the main socio-economic factors affecting the smoking prevalence in Ardabil, multivariable logistic regression was used. The prevalence of smoking was 16.1 (95%, CI 15.5-16.4) in this study, where the prevalence of smoking was for men and women 33.4% and 1.4%, respectively. The prevalence of smoking had significant association with old age (2.05, 95% CI, 1.66 to 2.53), male gender (45.15, 95% CI, 37.14 to 54.89), being married (2.60, 95% CI, 1.51 to 4.46), having cardiovascular disease (1.54, 95% CI, 1.32 to 1.79), and negative association with illiteracy (0.50, 95% CI, 0.40 to 0.64), being obese (0.83, 95% CI, 0.73 to 0.94), and lower socio-economic status (0.74, 95% CI, 0.64 to 0.84). The study showed that the prevalence of smoking in Ardabil is higher than many other countries, and different factors, especially socio-economic status, have an association with the prevalence. There are deep needs to policies and regulations such as increasing the taxation on a cigarette to reduce the negative effect of smoking in Iran.

Socioeconomic inequality in tobacco expenditure in Iran: a cross-sectional analysis at national and subnational levels

BACKGROUND

Tobacco expenditure has adverse impacts on expenditure on basic needs and resource allocation of the households. Using data from a nationally representative survey, we measured socioeconomic inequality in tobacco expenditure as the share of household budget (TEHB) and explained its main determinants among Iranian households at the national and sub-national levels.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study used data from the Iranian Household Income and Expenditure Survey (IHIES), 2018. We included a total of 7649 households with tobacco expenditure more than zero in the analysis. Province-level data on the Human Development Index (HDI) was obtained from the Institute for Management Research at Radbound University. The concentration curve (CC) and the concentration index (C) were used to measure socioeconomic inequality in TEHB at national and sub-national levels. The C was decomposed to identify the factors explaining the observed socioeconomic inequality in TEHB.

RESULTS

At the national level, households with at least one smoker spent more than 5% of their budget for tobacco consumption in the last month. Households from the urban areas allocated less of their budgets on tobacco products compared to rural households (4.6% vs. 5.8%). Overall, TEHB was more concentrated among the poorer households (C = 0.1423, 95% CI: - 0.1552 to - 0.1301). In other words, the distribution of TEHB was pro-poor in Iran. Pro-poor inequality in TEHB was also found in urban (C = - 0.1707, 95% CI: - 0.1998 to - 0.1516) and rural (C = - 0.1314, 95% CI: - 0.1474 to - 0.1152) areas. We also found that pro-poor inequalities were higher in Iranian provinces with low HDI. The decomposition results indicate that wealth and education were the main factors contributing to the concentration of TEHB among the poorer households.

CONCLUSION

This study found that TEHB was disproportionality concentrated among poorer households in Iran. The extent of inequality in TEHB was higher in urban areas and less developed provinces. Designing and implementing tobacco control interventions to decrease the smoking prevalence and increase smoking cessation could protect worse-off households against the financial burden of tobacco spending.

Cost of hospitalisation and length of stay due to hypoglycaemia in patients with diabetes mellitus: a cross-sectional study

Objective:

This study aims to estimate the length of stay and hospitalisation cost of hypoglycaemia, and to identify determinants of variation in the length of stay and hospitalisation cost among individual patients with type 1 or 2 diabetes mellitus.

Methods:

A cross-sectional study was conducted using inpatients records for patients with diabetes mellitus who had been hospitalised due to hypoglycaemic events in two private hospitals in Amman, Jordan between January 2009 and May 2017. All hospitalisation costs were inflated to the equivalent costs in 2017. Hospitalisation cost was estimated from the patient’s perspective in Jordanian dinars (JOD). Descriptive analyses and correlation between sociodemographic or clinical characteristics with the cost and length of stay were explored. Predictors of hypoglycaemic hospitalisation cost and length of stay were determined using logistic regression.

Results:

During the study period a total of 126 patients with diabetes mellitus were hospitalised due to an incident of hypoglycaemia. The mean patient age was 64.2 (SD=19.6) years; half were male. Patients admitted for hypoglycaemia stayed in hospital for a median duration of two days (IQR=2 days). The median cost of hospitalisation for hypoglycaemia was 163.2 JOD (USD 230.1) (IQR=216.3 JOD). We found that the Glasgow coma score was positively associated with length of stay (0.345, p=0.008), and older age was correlated with higher hospitalisation cost (0.207, p=0.02). Patients with a family history of diabetes had higher hospitalisation costs and longer duration of stay (0.306 and 0.275, p<0.05). In addition, being a male patient (0.394, p<0.05) and with an absence of smoking history was associated with longer duration of stay (0.456, p<0.01), but not with higher hospitalisation cost.

Conclusions:

Costs associated with the incidence of hypoglycaemic events are not low and constitute a large cost component of managing and treating diabetes mellitus. Male patients and patients having a family history of diabetes should receive extra care and education on the prevention of hypoglycaemic events, and a treatment de-intensification approach should be considered if necessary, so we can prevent its associated hospitalisation costs and length of stay.

Association of smoking with direct medical expenditures of chronic diseases in north of Jordan: a retrospective cohort study

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to estimate the association of smoking with the direct medical expenditures for chronic disease management in north of Jordan.

DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

Retrospective cohort study using hospital database. Patients who were diagnosed with at least one chronic disease,were aged 18 years or older and had attended King Abdullah University Hospital for disease management and procedures from 1 July 2015 through 30 June 2016 were included in the study.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

The outcome of interest was the direct medical expenditures for chronic disease management according to smoking status.

RESULTS

Data were collected from 845 patients having at least one chronic disease (mean age of 61±10.7 years). Smokers formed 22% of total patients. The back transformed mean total expenditure per patient of smokers, former smokers and non-smokers was 875 JD, 928 JD and 774 JD, respectively. Drugs were the most expensive healthcare resource used, accounting for 43% of total expenditure, followed by inpatient-related and outpatient-related services (19%). Smokers and former smokers were associated with the highest inpatient expenditures and inpatient-related and outpatient-related services expenditures. However, smokers were associated with the lowest outpatient and medication expenditures.

CONCLUSIONS

Smokers and former smokers presented with higher statistically significant inpatient-related and outpatient-related services expenditures and higher transformed mean total expenditures compared to non-smokers; highlighting this economic burden is useful for promoting tobacco control policies.

Does smoking status affect cost of hospitalization? Evidence from three main diseases associated with smoking in Iran

Background: Smoking is recognized as one of the main public health problems worldwide and is accounted for a high financial burden to healthcare systems and the society as a whole. This study was aimed at examining the effect of smoking status on cost of hospitalization among patients with lung cancer (LC), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and ischemic heart diseases (IHD) in Iran in 2014.

Methods: A total of 1,271 patients (consisting of 415 LC, 427 COPD and 429 IHD patients) were included in the study. Data on age, sex, and insurance status, length of hospital stay and cost of hospitalization were extracted from the medical records of the patients. The smoking status of the patients was obtained through a telephone survey. A generalized linear model (GLM) was used to compare the costs of hospitalization of current, former and never smokers. The analysis was done using Stata v.12.

Results: The mean±SD cost of hospitalization per patient was 45.6 ± 41.8 million IR for current smokers, 34.8±23 million IR for former smokers and 27.6±24.6 million IR for never smokers, respectively. The findings indicated that the cost of hospitalization for current and former smokers was 65% and 26% in the unadjusted model and 35% and 24% in the adjusted model higher than for never smokers.

Conclusion: The findings revealed that smoking drains a large hospital resource and imposes a high financial burden on the health system and the society. Therefore, efforts should focus on reducing the prevalence of smoking and the negative economic consequences of smoking.

Effectiveness of Healthcare Coordination in Patients with Chronic Respiratory Diseases

Coordination of healthcare effectively prevents exacerbations and reduces the number of hospitalizations, emergency visits, and the mortality rate in patients with chronic respiratory diseases. The purpose of this study was to determine clinical effectiveness of ambulatory healthcare coordination in chronic respiratory patients and its effect on the level of healthcare services as an indicator of direct medical costs. We conducted a retrospective health record survey, using an online database of 550 patients with chronic respiratory diseases. There were decreases in breathing rate, heart rate, and the number of cigarettes smoked per day, and forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expired volume in 1 s (FEV1) increased after the implementation of the coordinated healthcare structure. These benefits were accompanied by increases in the number of visits to the pulmonary outpatient clinic (p < 0.001), diagnostic costs (p < 0.001), and referrals to other outpatient clinics (p < 0.003) and hospitals (p < 0.001). The advantageous effects of healthcare coordination on clinical status of respiratory patients above outlined persisted over a 3-year period being reviewed.

Impact of Smoking on Health-Related Quality of Life: A General Population Survey in West Iran

This study was aimed at assessing any association between smoking and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among adults aged 18 years and above living in Kermanshah city, western Iran. A cross-sectional study was conducted on a total sample of 1,543 participants obtained by convenient sampling during the period from February 1st to May 30th, 2017. Data were collected using a self-administrated questionnaire. The HRQoL of the study participants was assessed with reference to the EuroQol 5-dimensions-3-level (EQ-5D-3L). The impact of smoking behavior of the participants on HRQoL with controls for potential confounders was examined by multiple regression. Out of the total of 1,543 participants, current smokers, past smokers, and never smokers accounted for 19.7%, 4.2% and 76.1%, respectively. The mean EQ-5D indices were 0.69 ±SD 0.20, 0.70 ± SD 0.22, and 0.78 ± SD 0.16. The highest proportion of self-reported problems (including both ‘some’ and ‘severe’) were related to current, heavy smokers, with high nicotine dependence. Regression analysis indicated that current smokers had a significantly lower HRQoL compared to past smokers and never smokers (p < 0.05). The heavy smokers also had a significantly lower HRQoL score than moderate and light smokers (p < 0.05) and there was an inverse relationship between the HRQoL score and nicotine dependence (p<0.05). The current smokers, heavy smokers, and high nicotine dependent smokers had lower HRQoL scores. These findings provide inputs for better understanding and for devising interventions for smoking cessation, reducing the number of cigarettes smoked per day and nicotine dependency.

Economic Burden of Smoking in Iran: A Prevalence-Based Annual Cost Approach

Objectives:

The burden of smoking on the health system and society is significant. The current study aimed to estimate the annual direct and indirect costs of smoking in Iran for the year 2014.

Methods:

A prevalence-based disease-specific approach was used to determine costs associated with the three most common smoking-related diseases: lung cancer (LC), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and ischaemic heart disease (IHD). Data on healthcare utilization were obtained from an original survey, hospital records and questionnaires. The number of deaths was extracted from the global burden diseases study (GBD). The human capital approach was applied to estimate the costs of morbidity and mortality due to smoking-related diseases, classified as direct (hospitalization, outpatients and non-medical costs) and indirect (mortality and morbidity).

Results:

The total economic cost of the three most common smoking-attributable diseases in Iran was US$1.46 billion in 2014, including US$1.05 billion (71.7%) in indirect and US$0.41 billion (28.3%) in direct costs. Direct costs of the three smoking-related diseases accounted for 1.6% of total healthcare expenditures and total costs were about 0.26% of Iran’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2014.

Conclusions:

Our study indicated that smoking places a substantial economic burden on Iranian society. Therefore, sustained smoking cessation interventions and tobacco control policies are required to reduce the magnitude and extent of smoking-attributable costs in Iran.