Lower handgrip strength at discharge from acute care hospitals is associated with 30-day readmission: A prospective...

Malnutrition at admission, using various parameters, is associated with 30-day readmission. However, the association between 30-day readmission and nutritional parameters at discharge has not been studied.

From a large cohort study (n = 1022), 413 patients with a length of stay of ≥7 days who had information on readmission and discharge location were included into the analysis. Their nutritional status at discharge was assessed by subjective global assessment, body mass index, albumin, nutritional risk index and handgrip strength. Data on demography, diagnoses and Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) were also collected. Missing data was handled using multiple imputations by chained equations. Association of nutrition related measures with 30 day readmission was tested in logistic regression models.

Of the 413 patients, 86 (20.8%) were readmitted within 30 days. The proportion of readmitted patients was higher for medical (42.2%) versus surgical patients (25.6%) (p = 0.005) and disease severity was higher in the readmission group with (median (q1, q3) CCI of 3 (2, 6) versus 2(1, 4) for no readmission (p = 0.009). Among the nutritional parameters assessed at discharge, only handgrip strength was significantly associated with 30-day readmission both in unadjusted and adjusted models. Stronger handgrip was associated with decreased chances for readmission where adjusted OR (95% CI) per unit increase were 0.95 (0.92, 0.99). Handgrip strength was not associated with disease severity assessed by CCI (p = 0.14) but was significantly associated with SGA (SGA A and B significantly different from SGA C: both p-values <0.001) after adjusting for age and gender.

Lower handgrip at discharge was associated with 30-day readmission. This assessment may be useful to detect patients at risk of readmission to better individualize discharge planning including nutrition care.