The investigation of valid criteria for hospitalization and discharge in patients with limb cellulitis: a prospective cohort study

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate a valid model for patients’ admission or discharge from emergency services to improve the health system and reduce costs. Methods: This study was carried out using a prospective cohort method. The study population was patients with limb cellulitis referring to the emergency department of Peymanieh hospital. In this research, the study participants were separated into two groups based on the duration of hospitalization (hospital stay less than 24 hours or longer than 24 hours), then the patients were again separated into 4 groups based on the classification of the the Clinical Resource Efficiency Support Team (CREST) guideline, which in each of these groups the mean age, gender, and the prevalence of underlying diseases were identified and the final outcome for each group was determined after one week from the visit to the hospital. Results: Peripheral vascular disease, history of injection drug use, immunodeficiency and congenital immune deficiency had a significant relationship with the rate of hospitalization and recurrence. There was a significant relationship between class 1 disease and hospitalization for less than 24 hours, classes 2 and 3, and hospitalization for more than 24 hours (P < 0.001). There was a significant relationship between grade 1 disease and non-recourse, grade 3 and recurrence within one week after initiation of the treatment (P < 0.001). But there was no relationship between grade 2 and grade 4 and the referral of the patient after treatment. Conclusion: Corset Scale is a reliable scale for assessing the severity of the disease to determine the process of cellulite treatment for outpatient or hospitalization.