Determinants of Hospital Length of Stay among Patients with Cardiovascular Presentations in Southern West Bank, Palestine: A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Most cardiovascular hospitalizations are driven by risk factors and understanding how demographic and clinical factors influence hospitalization duration is important for allocating scarce resources. Few studies in the region have examined predictors of length of stay among patients presenting with cardiovascular complaints; none were conducted in Palestine. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional analysis of 9502 anonymized hospital records was conducted. Records from 2018 to 2024 were extracted from electronic medical systems. Variables included age, sex, chief complaint, diagnosis, comorbidities, and length of stay, which were cleaned and analyzed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression in SPSS. Results: The mean age of patients was 57.6 ± 12.2 years, and 69.1% were male. Hypertension (47.4%), diabetes mellitus (37.4%), and coronary artery disease (35.9%) were the most prevalent comorbidities. In multivariable analyses, each additional year of age increased the odds of staying longer than 1 day (OR 1.02, 95% CI 1.02 - 1.03). Male sex (OR 1.49, CI 1.35 - 1.64), hypertension (OR 1.18, CI 1.07 - 1.30), diabetes mellitus (OR 1.71, CI 1.55 - 1.88), coronary artery disease (OR 1.25, CI 1.13 - 1.37), cerebrovascular accident (OR 1.40, CI 1.09 - 1.80), smoking (OR 1.45, CI 1.31 - 1.61) and history of coronary artery bypass grafting (OR 1.57, CI 1.31 - 1.87) were independent predictors of longer stay. Conclusion: older age, male sex and cardiometabolic comorbidities were associated with longer hospital stays. Nursing practice should focus on early risk assessment, optimization of chronic disease control, and patient education to reduce prolonged hospitalization. Future prospective studies incorporating treatment data and functional outcomes are required.