Sociodemographic factors associated with time to discharge for hospitalised patients with asthma and asthma exacerbation using the Ghana Health Service District Information Management System 2 (DHIMS-2) database, 2012–2017

OBJECTIVE: Data on asthma hospitalisations are a useful source of patient morbidity information. In Ghana, the length of stay (LoS) and sociodemographic factors of patients hospitalised for asthma and its exacerbation are understudied. We aimed to investigate the time to discharge and assessed factors associated with length of hospital stays of asthmatics in Ghana. METHODS: Retrospective analysis of hospitalised patient with asthma records between 2012 and 2017 from the nationwide Ghana Health Service District Health Information Management System 2 database. We calculated the cumulative incidence function for discharge stratified by age group and sex. Multivariable Cox regression was used to investigate the association of sociodemographic characteristics with the LoS. RESULTS: Of 19 926 asthma-associated hospitalisations, 730 (3.7%) were due to asthma exacerbation. Overall mean age was 34 years (SD=24.6), in 12 000 (60.2%) hospitalisations, patients were female. There were 224 deaths (1.1%). Median LoS was 2 days (IQR: 1–3) with almost 90% of all patients discharged by the seventh day. Age and region were among the covariates showing significant association with LoS. Age below 10 years (HR: 1.39 (1.11 to 1.78)) was associated with early discharge while comorbidity and health insurance ownership were associated with late discharge (p<0.001). LoS did not vary by sex. Compared with the Greater Accra region, patients in other regions had shorter LoS, especially the Ashanti and Upper West regions (p<0.001). LoS increased annually, but was highest in 2016 (HR: 0.94 (0.90 to 0.98)). CONCLUSION: Disparities in LoS across regions, and an overall increasing annual trend in Ghana call for tailored healthcare resource allocation. Longer LoS implies that patients are often absent from school or work leading to substantial financial and emotional costs to individuals and families.