Research Headlines

Length of stay down

By Jeanne Sabatie, Production Editor

The average length of stay in hospitals was five days in 1999, down from 7.3 days in 1980, according to the National Hospital Discharge Survey, issued in April by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics. The CDC also reports that the rate of hospitalizations has fallen nearly 30 percent since 1980, with heart disease the most frequent cause of admission.

 

Jeanne Sabatie. Length of stay down. Business and Health 2001;5:10.