Patient and Hospital Factors Associated With Hospital Course for Patients With Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.

Objective: To characterize variation in the treatment of patients with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) who were reasonable candidates for hospitalization, we investigated patient-level associations with inpatient admission and hospital-level associations with length of stay (LOS). We further investigated whether patients treated at high-LOS hospitals were more likely to experience home discharge.

Setting: Patients were retrospectively identified from the ACS TQIP dataset.

Participants: A total of 122 406 patients with mTBI were included.

Design: We performed hierarchical logistic regression to investigate associations of patient-level variables with inpatient admission. Among hospitalized patients, a hierarchical linear regression was constructed for associations with LOS, including hospitals as a random effects term. Based on random effects coefficients, hospitals were classified as high-LOS outliers or non-outliers.

Main measures: Univariable comparisons on facility characteristics were performed. Patients were propensity score matched across hospital outlier status, and a multivariable logistic regression for associations with discharge to home was performed.

Results: The median age was 63 years (interquartile range [IQR], 42-77 years), and 111 306 (91%) patients experienced inpatient admission. Uninsured status was associated with lower odds of inpatient admission (odds ratio [OR], 0.71; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.65-0.76; P < .001). After excluding very low-volume hospitals, 80 258 admitted patients were treated across 469 hospitals, and 98 were designated as high-LOS outliers. These were more likely to be Level 1 trauma centers (76% vs. 26%; P < .001). After matching, patients treated at high-LOS outlier hospitals were less likely to experience home discharge (OR, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.85-0.93; P < .001). This effect was amplified for patients identifying as non-White, non-Black, non-Hispanic other races ( P = .003).

Conclusions: Inpatient admission after mTBI varies by insurance status, with uninsured patients less likely to be admitted. There is significant interhospital variation in LOS, with Level 1 trauma centers more likely to be high-LOS outliers. Despite their longer LOS, patients treated at outlier hospitals experienced lower odds of home discharge.