[Diagnosis-specific hospital length of stay in Schleswig-Holstein]

About 900,000 stays in 34 hospitals of Schleswig-Holstein during the years 1977-1984 have been analysed in a retrospective study. The purpose of this research was to determine the reasons explaining the length of stay in hospitals. Analyses of variance indicate considerable difference between the 289 diagnostic labels and between structures of determinants. On the average about 20 percent of the variance in length of stay can be explained by characteristics of patients, hospitals and the environment. In prospective studies the presentation of the different diagnostic group related patterns of determinants may be useful in selecting tracer-diagnoses and independent characteristics.