The association between hospital length of stay before rapid response system activation and clinical outcomes: a retrospective multicenter cohort study

Rapid response system (RRS) is being increasingly adopted to improve patient safety in hospitals worldwide. However, predictors of survival outcome after RRS activation because of unexpected clinical deterioration are not well defined. We investigated whether hospital length of stay (LOS) before RRS activation can predict the clinical outcomes.

Using a nationwide multicenter RRS database, we identified patients for whom RRS was activated during hospitalization at 9 tertiary referral hospitals in South Korea between January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2017. All information on patient characteristics, RRS activation, and clinical outcomes were retrospectively collected by reviewing patient medical records at each center. Patients were categorized into two groups according to their hospital LOS before RRS activation: early deterioration (LOS < 5 days) and late deterioration (LOS ≥ 5 days). The primary outcome was 28-day mortality and multivariable logistic regression was used to compare the two groups. In addition, propensity score-matched analysis was used to minimize the effects of confounding factors.

Among 11,612 patients, 5779 and 5883 patients belonged to the early and late deterioration groups, respectively. Patients in the late deterioration group were more likely to have malignant disease and to be more severely ill at the time of RRS activation. After adjusting for confounding factors, the late deterioration group had higher 28-day mortality (aOR 1.60, 95% CI 1.44-1.77). Other clinical outcomes (in-hospital mortality and hospital LOS after RRS activation) were worse in the late deterioration group as well, and similar results were found in the propensity score-matched analysis (aOR for 28-day mortality 1.66, 95% CI 1.45-1.91).

Patients who stayed longer in the hospital before RRS activation had worse clinical outcomes. During the RRS team review of patients, hospital LOS before RRS activation should be considered as a predictor of future outcome.