Background: Rib fracture patients can have a short or long-term hospital stay, depending on their clinical evolution. According to previous studies, patients showed up to 53% long-term disability following hospital discharge. The objective of this study was to predict the moderate to severe disability related to hospital stay in rib fracture patients.

Methods: A retrospective study was performed on hospitalized adult patients with rib fractures who received conservative treatment. The patient's clinical profile and characteristics were collected from the patient's clinical history and healthcare professional records. We identified factors associated with moderate to severe disability following hospital discharge of rib fracture patients with Cox regression analysis.

Results: Finally, 197 rib fracture patients were included in the study. All patients with rib fractures showed rates of 44% of moderate to severe disability after 6 days of hospital stay. Rib fractured patients with a longer hospital stay showed moderate-severe disability related to be male sex (HR 0.73, 95% CI 0.61-0.87, P < 0.001), presence of first rib fracture  (HR 1.78, 95% CI 0.71-4.44, P = 0.047), presence of flail chest (HR 1.29, 95% CI 1.01-1.65, P = 0.046), the severity of lung injury (HR 1.65, 95% CI 0.44-0.93, P < 0.001) and the functional impairment (HR 1.37, 95% CI 1.16-1.62, P < 0.001).

Conclusions: A longer hospital stay may predict disability in patients with rib fractures, depending on factors such as sex, functional impairment, the severity of lung injury, and the presence of first rib fracture and flail chest.