Abstract
INTRODUCTION: While survival following liver transplantation has improved over the past 3 decades, few studies have examined the changes over time in hospital length of stay (LOS), a surrogate for healthcare expenditure and an important short-term outcome measure. RESEARCH QUESTION: The purpose of this study was to compare post-transplantation LOS over the last 3 decades. DESIGN: A cross-sectional analysis of 150 603 adult liver transplant recipients between September 1987 and July 2021 from the UNOS database was conducted. The patients were placed into 3 eras (1987-1989, 1990-1999, and 2000-2021) based on a Join point regression analysis of significant time points of change in LOS trends. Risk factors that were significant in univariate analysis (P < .05) were included in the multivariable Cox regression analysis, which controlled for 29 donor/recipient characteristics. RESULTS: Among adult patients, the average LOS following liver transplantation changed from 51.5 days in 1987 to 16.3 days in 2021, with a relatively steeper decline prior to 2000. On multivariable Cox regression, patients in both the 1987-1989 cohort (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.54, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.52-0.57) and the 1990-1999 cohort (HR: 0.77, CI: 0.76-0.78) had significantly prolonged lengths of stay (HR < 1 associated with later hospital discharge) compared to the 2000-2021 cohort. CONCLUSIONS: This analysis found that mean LOS decreased over time in adult liver transplant recipients, even after controlling for donor and recipient-level factors. Future studies are needed to elucidate root cause factors for this decline in LOS over time.