Aetiologies and Risk Factors of Prolonged Fever Admission in Samtse Hospital, Bhutan, 2020

Abstract

Febrile illness is a common cause of hospital admission in developing countries, including Bhutan. Prolonged fever admission can add considerable strain on healthcare service delivery. Therefore, identifying the underlying cause of prolonged hospital stays can improve the quality of patient care by providing appropriate empirical treatment. Thus, the study’s aims were to evaluate the aetiologies and factors of prolonged fever admission in Samtse Hospital, Bhutan. Fever admission data from 1 January to 31 December 2020 were retrieved from the Samtse Hospital database. Prolonged hospital stay was defined as those with >5 days of hospital admission. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression was used to identify risk factors for a prolonged hospital stay. Of 290 records, 135 (46.6%) were children (≤12 years), 167 (57.6%) were males, and 237 (81.7%) patients were from rural areas. The common aetiologies for fever admissions were respiratory tract infection (85, 29.3%) and acute undifferentiated febrile illness (48, 16.6%). The prolonged stay was reported in 87 (30.0%) patients. Patients from rural areas (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 4.02, 95% CI = 1.58–10.24) and those with respiratory tract infections (AOR = 5.30, 95% CI = 1.11–25.39) and urinary tract infections and kidney disease (AOR = 8.16, 95% CI = 1.33–49.96) had higher odds of prolonged hospital stay. This epidemiological knowledge on prolonged hospital stay can be used by the physician for the management of fever admission in Samtse Hospital.