Table 3.

Risk of readmissions within 28 days and mortality within 30 days and within six months of discharge from hospital (A) and over a two-year period (B) according to the initial legth of stay in hospital in 32 270 alive discharge episodes

	Risk of readmissions and mortality
	Unadjusted				Adjusted for age and sex				Adjusted for age, sex, patients’ severityb and index admissionsc
Table 3A	OR	95% CI	r 2 (%)	P	OR	95% CI	r 2 (%)	P	OR	95% CI	r 2 (%)	P
1 readmission
Bottom tertile of LOS	0.32	0.21–0.49	7.4	<0.001	0.33	0.21–0.51	8.0	<0.001	0.32	0.21–0.50	12.5	<0.001
Middle tertile of LOSa	1	–		–	1	–		–	1	–		–
Top tertile of LOS	2.52	2.16–3.08		<0.001	2.30	1.97–2.83		<0.001	2.32	1.88–2.88		<0.001
≥2 readmissions
Bottom tertile of LOS	0.18	0.12–0.28	15.9	<0.001	0.20	0.13–0.30	16.9	<0.001	0.18	0.12–0.28	21.5	<0.001
Middle tertile of LOSa	1	–		–	1	–		–	1	–		–
Top tertile of LOS	7.85	6.54–9.41		<0.001	6.21	5.16–7.49		<0.001	6.17	5.11–7.45		<0.001
Died within 30 days
Bottom tertile of LOS	0.68	0.52–0.90	9.1	0.007	0.81	0.61–1.07	12.5	0.143	0.86	0.64–1.14	15.4	0.292
Middle tertile of LOSa	1	–		–	1	–		–	1	–		–
Top tertile of LOS	5.35	4.40–6.50		<0.001	3.28	2.69–4.01		<0.001	2.87	2.34–3.51		<0.001
Died within 6 months
Bottom tertile of LOS	0.69	0.59–0.91	10.8	<0.001	0.82	0.70–0.96	14.2	0.016	0.83	0.71–0.99	17.3	0.032
Middle tertile of LOSa	1	–		–	1	–		–	1	–		–
Top tertile of LOS	4.61	4.11–5.18		<0.001	2.83	2.51–3.19		<0.001	2.52	2.23–2.85		<0.001
	Risk of mortality over two year period
	Unadjusted				Adjusted for age and sex				Adjusted for age, sex, patients’ severityb and index admissionsc
Table 3B	OR	95% CI		P	OR	95% CI		P	OR	95% CI		P
All ages: Bottom tertile of LOS	0.73	0.65–0.82		<0.001	0.86	0.77–0.97		0.017	0.86	0.76–0.97		0.016
All ages: Middle tertile of LOSa	1	–		–	1	–		–	1	–		–
All ages: Top tertile of LOS	3.89	3.56–4.26		<0.001	2.34	2.14–2.57		<0.001	2.25	2.05−2.47		<0.001
18–49 years: Bottom tertile of LOS	1.13	0.58–2.20		0.730	1.19	0.61–2.33		0.613	1.27	0.64–2.53		0.431
18–49 years: Middle tertile of LOSa	1	–		–	1	–		–	1	–		–
18–49 years: Top tertile of LOS	7.97	4.31–14.74		<0.001	7.21	3.89–13.36		<0.001	6.67	3.54–12.56		<0.001
50–59 years: Bottom tertile of LOS	0.80	4.48–1.35		0.405	0.82	0.48–1.38		0.445	0.72	0.42–1.23		0.231
50–59 years: Middle tertile of LOSa	1	–		–	1	–		–	1	–		–
50–59 years: Top tertile of LOS	4.78	3.17–7.20		<0.001	4.75	3.15–7.16		<0.001	4.18	2.74–6.37		<0.001
60–69 years: Bottom tertile of LOS	0.70	0.49–1.00		0.052	0.70	0.49–1.01		0.058	0.62	0.43–0.90		0.013
60–69 years: Middle tertile of LOSa	1	–		–	1	–		–	1	–		–
60–69 years: Top tertile of LOS	3.40	2.62–4.41		<0.001	3.37	2.59–4.37		<0.001	3.09	2.37–4.03		<0.001
70–79 years: Bottom tertile of LOS	0.95	0.74–1.21		0.648	0.94	0.74–1.20		0.624	0.88	0.69–1.13		0.309
70–79 years: Middle tertile of LOSa	1	–		–	1	–		–	1	–		–
70–79 years: Top tertile of LOS	2.98	2.48–3.58		<0.001	2.95	2.45–3.54		<0.001	2.72	2.26–3.27		<0.001
≥80 years: Bottom tertile of LOS	0.89	0.76–1.04		0.145	0.89	0.76–1.05		0.162	0.93	0.79–1.09		0.365
≥80 years: Middle tertile of LOSa	1	–		–	1	–		–	1	–		–
≥80 years: Top tertile of LOS	1.86	1.66–2.09		<0.001	1.81	1.61–2.03		<0.001	1.77	1.58–2.00		<0.001

OR, odds ratio; LOS, length of stay;.

^aReference group = middle tertile;

^bPatients’ severity: Acuity of admission, Charlson Comorbidity Index score ≥1 and emergency department use;

^cSee Supplementary Table S2 for complete list of index admissions.