Hospital length of stay

Method

Elapsed time from hospital admission to hospital discharge, taken from the medical record. The reporting unit is recorded on the edge, because sources differ, and so is the clinical setting, because admissions for different reasons have incomparable baselines.

The method is part of the endpoint identity. Studies measuring the same quantity by a different method are held as separate endpoints.

Notes

THE TWO EXAMPLES THAT USED TO BE IN `measurement` LIVE HERE NOW, and the move is the point rather than tidying. `measurement` is scored — `vocabularyOf` reads label, measurement, slug and abbreviations — so the sentence naming ablation, colorectal surgery and sickle-cell crisis as settings whose baselines are INCOMPARABLE put "ablation", "colorectal", "surgery", "sickle-cell" and "crisis" into this node's POSITIVE vocabulary, where they help a span about colorectal surgery match the node the sentence exists to keep it away from. The exclusion vocabulary became inclusion vocabulary. For the record: PMID 42456370 reports hours where the rest report days, and ablation, colorectal surgery and sickle-cell crisis admissions are the settings meant. Neither belongs in a scored field. Intensive care unit length of stay is a nested subset of this duration, not a synonym: PMIDs 38216185, 37880041 and 39574288 each report both, with different magnitudes, and an intervention can shorten ICU days while total admission is governed by discharge planning. SIGN INVERSION against CAT:outcome/time-to-exhaustion and against diarrhoea-free survival: those are durations that improve by RISING, this is a duration that improves by FALLING. Any generic 'duration' node that swallowed both would flip one of them. Also distinct from duration of mechanical ventilation, a device-exposure time inside the same admission.

Findings

3 findings from 2 compounds, strongest first.

• methylene blue — decreases

  AWell establishedGrade A, Well established. Replicated human trial evidence, consistent direction.Findingreplicated ×1

  “The results showed that MB reduced the hospital LOS in patients with distributive shock (MD: −1.97; 95% CI −3.82 to −0.11; p=0.04; table 2).”

  Study

  meta-analysis

  Participants

  111

  Population

  adults with distributive shock (septic shock, vasoplegic syndrome, ischaemia-reperfusion injury); secondary endpoint; 2 trials, n = 111

  Effect -1.97 mean difference, 95% CI -3.82 to -0.11

  Effect of methylene blue on outcomes in patients with distributive shock: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.2024PMID:38216185

• methylene blue — decreases

  BLikelyGrade B, Likely. Human evidence, limited replication or design limits.Findingreplicated ×1

  “Consequently, the mean length of hospital stay was significantly shorter for patients receiving MBI (3.80 ± 0.85 days) than for controls (5.43 ± 1.01 days; P <.001).”

  Study

  RCT

  Participants

  60

  Dose

  single intraoperative subcutaneous infiltration of 0.5-1 mL of 0.1% methylene blue per incision site, total not exceeding 5 mL

  Population

  adults with mixed haemorrhoids after Milligan-Morgan haemorrhoidectomy; secondary endpoint; reported in days; both arms received the same on-demand intravenous lornoxicam protocol

  The effect of methylene blue infiltrating injection on anal pain after Milligan-Morgan surgery: A randomized controlled clinical study.2026PMID:41686620

• L-glutamine — no detected effect on

  BLikelyGrade B, Likely. Human evidence, limited replication or design limits.FindingNull result

  “The length of hospital stay was reported in 14 trials, in which a total of 2,777 patients were enrolled; however, the patient length of stay was not affected by glutamine supplementation.”

  Study

  meta-analysis

  Participants

  2,777

  Population

  critically ill patients

  The effect of glutamine therapy on outcomes in critically ill patients: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.2014PMID:24401636