Dealing with highly skewed hospital length of stay distributions: The use of Gamma mixture models to study delivery hospitalizations.

ABSTRACT: The increased focus on addressing severe maternal morbidity and maternal mortality has led to studies investigating patient and hospital characteristics associated with longer hospital stays. Length of stay (LOS) for delivery hospitalizations has a strongly skewed distribution with the vast majority of LOS lasting two to three days in the United States. Prior studies typically focused on common LOSs and dealt with the long LOS distribution tail in ways to fit conventional statistical analyses (e.g., log transformation, trimming). This study demonstrates the use of Gamma mixture models to analyze the skewed LOS distribution. Gamma mixture models are flexible and, do not require data transformation or removal of outliers to accommodate many outcome distribution shapes, these models allow for

SUBMITTER: Williford E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7170466 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature