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This study aimed to compare mortality rate, length of stay (LOS) and hospitalization costs at different priority levels for a patient admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) at a public tertiary hospital in Qazvin, Iran. This study also aimed to predict influencing factors on patients’ mortality, ICU LOS and hospitalization costs in different admission groups.

The authors conducted a retrospective cohort study among patients who mainly suffered from internal diseases admitted to an ICU of a public hospital. This study was conducted among 127 patients admitted to ICU from July to September 2019. The authors categorized patients into four groups based on two crucial hemodynamic and respiratory status criteria. The authors used a logistic regression model to predict the likelihood of mortality in ICU admitted patients during hospitalizations for the four prioritization groups. Furthermore, the authors conducted a multivariate analysis using the “enter” method to identify risk factors for LOS.

Results showed a statistically significant relationship between the priority of being admitted to ICU and hospitalization costs. The authors’ findings revealed that age, LOS and levels of consciousness had a predictability role in determining in-hospital mortality. Besides, age, gender, consciousness level of patients and type of the disease were mentioned as affecting factors of LOS.

This study’s findings emphasize the necessity of categorizing patients according to specific criteria to efficiently use available resources to help health-care authorities reduce the costs and allocate the budget to different health sectors.