Determinants of hospital length of stay among skin cancer patients in a teaching hospital in north-central, Nigeria

Objective: To study the determinants of hospital length of stay among skin cancer patients in a teaching hospital in North-Central, Nigeria. Patients and Methods: A 3-year retrospective study of patients with histologically confirmed skin cancers presenting to our institution from April 1, 2012 to March 31, 2015 was conducted. Relevant data were extracted from the patients’ records and subjected to statistical analysis (frequencies, cross tabulation and χ2 tests). Results: Records were available for 43 patients with a mean age of 46 ± 18 years. There were 21 males and 22 females with a M:F ratio of approximately 1:1. The length of hospital stay (LOS) ranged from 0 to 63 days with a mean of 14 ± 15 days. Most (51.2%) patients spent <8 days in hospital with the 20–29 years age group spending the least time. Married patients had longer LOS than unmarried patients. Patients who are human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive, artisans and students along with patients with facial and multifocal lesions had shorter LOS. Patients who delayed their presentation, underwent major surgery, had complications and had melanomas had longer LOS. Conclusion: The study found the patients’ marital status, occupation, location of the lesion, type of surgery performed, histologic diagnosis and complications were significant factors in determining the patients’ LOS.