Factors associated with 28-day hospital readmission after stroke in Australia

Understanding the factors that contribute to early readmission after discharge following stroke is limited. We aimed to describe the factors associated with 28-day readmission after hospitalization for stroke.

Factors associated with readmission were classified from the medical record standardized audits of 50 to 100 consecutively admitted patients with stroke from 35 Australian hospitals during multiple time periods (2000-2010). Factors were compared between patients readmitted and not readmitted after stroke hospitalization (n=43) grouped using 5 categories: patient characteristics (n=16; eg, age), clinical processes of care (n=13; eg, admitted into a stroke unit), social circumstances (n=3; eg, living home alone prior), health system (n=6; eg, location of hospital), and health outcome (n=5; eg, length of stay). Multilevel logistic regression modeling was used to examine the association with these independent factors selected if statistical significance P<0.15 or if considered clinically important and readmission status.

Among 3328 patients, 6.5% were readmitted within 28 days (mean age, 75; 48% female; 92% ischemic). After bivariate analyses 14/43 factors from 4/5 categories were associated with readmission after hospitalization for stroke. Two factors from patient and health outcome categories remained independently associated with readmission after multivariable analyses. These were dependent premorbid functional status (adjusted odds ratio, 1.87; 95% confidence interval, 1.25-2.81) and having a severe adverse event during the initial hospitalization for stroke (adjusted odds ratio, 2.81; 95% confidence interval, 1.55-5.12).

This is the first study to comprehensively evaluate factors associated with 28-day readmission after stroke. The factors associated with 28-day readmission are diverse and include potentially modifiable and nonmodifiable factors.