Abstract
BACKGROUND: Patients with status migrainosus often need to be admitted due to the severity of their headaches. Their hospitalization is often prolonged due to poor headache control. Large sample studies looking into the factors associated with prolonged length of stay (pLOS) in status migrainosus are lacking. METHODS: We utilized the Nationwide Inpatient Sample database to identify 4325 patients with primary discharge diagnosis of status migrainosus. Length of inpatient stay (LOS) of more than 6 days (90th percentile of LOS) was defined as pLOS. Patient demographics, hospital characteristics, mood disorders, anxiety disorder, and common medical comorbidities were identified. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with pLOS. RESULTS: We found 402 patients with pLOS. Female gender, African American race, mood disorder, obesity, opioid abuse, congestive heart failure, and chronic renal failure were significant independent predictors of pLOS. Median inflation-adjusted cost of hospitalization was USD$3829 (interquartile range: 2419-5809). CONCLUSION: We were able to identify several factors associated with pLOS in status migrainosus. Most of the factors we found were similar to those known to increase the prevalence and severity of migraine in the general population. Knowledge of these factors may help physicians identify high-risk patients to institute early migraine abortive and prophylactic treatment in order to shorten the length of hospital stay.