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Published on: September 22, 2020
Burden of Readmissions Among Patients With Critical Limb Ischemia
Shikhar Agarwal1, James M Pitcavage2, Karan Sud3
1Department of Cardiology, Section of Interventional Cardiology, Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, Pennsylvania.
Insights
Readmissions are frequent in critical limb ischemia (CLI) patients, with most being unplanned. Factors like demographics, clinical status, and socioeconomic aspects predict these readmissions, highlighting areas for intervention.
Area of Science:
- Vascular Surgery
- Health Services Research
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Readmissions pose a significant healthcare burden for patients with critical limb ischemia (CLI).
- Understanding readmission patterns is crucial for improving patient outcomes and managing healthcare costs.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the incidence of readmission in critical limb ischemia (CLI) patients.
- To identify key factors influencing readmission rates in this population.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of adult hospitalizations with CLI diagnosis codes from Florida, New York, and California State Inpatient Databases (2009-2013).
- Integration of American Hospital Association data for hospital characteristics.
- Geographic and routing analysis to assess the impact of travel time on readmission rates.
Main Results:
- High readmission rates observed: 27.1% at 30 days and 56.6% at 6 months (all-cause).
- Unplanned readmissions were predominant (23.6% at 30 days, 47.7% at 6 months).
- Key predictors for 6-month unplanned readmissions included age, race, prior amputation, comorbidities, need for post-discharge care, and longer index hospital stay. Shorter travel time to hospital was associated with lower readmission rates.
Conclusions:
- Critical limb ischemia (CLI) patients experience high rates of readmission, predominantly unplanned.
- Demographic, clinical, and socioeconomic factors are significant predictors of readmission.
- Travel time to healthcare facilities emerges as a modifiable factor influencing readmission risk.
Background:
Readmissions constitute a major health care burden among critical limb ischemia (CLI) patients.
Objectives:
This study aimed to determine the incidence of readmission and factors affecting readmission in CLI patients.
Methods:
All adult hospitalizations with a diagnosis code for CLI were included from State Inpatient Databases from Florida (2009 to 2013), New York (2010 to 2013), and California (2009 to 2011). Data were merged with the directory available from the American Hospital Association to obtain detailed information on hospital-related characteristics. Geographic and routing analysis was performed to evaluate the effect of travel time to the hospital on readmission rate.
Results:
Overall, 695,782 admissions from 212,241 patients were analyzed. Of these, 284,189 were admissions with a principal diagnosis of CLI (primary CLI admissions). All-cause readmission rates at 30 days and 6 months were 27.1% and 56.6%, respectively. The majority of these were unplanned readmissions. Unplanned readmission rates at 30 days and 6 months were 23.6% and 47.7%, respectively. The major predictors of 6-month unplanned readmissions included age, female sex, black/Hispanic race, prior amputation, Charlson comorbidity index, and need for home health care or rehabilitation facility upon discharge. Patients covered by private insurance were least likely to have a readmission compared with Medicaid/no insurance and Medicare populations. Travel time to the hospital was inversely associated with 6-month unplanned readmission rates. There was a significant interaction between travel time and major amputation as well as travel time and revascularization strategy; however, the inverse association between travel time and unplanned readmission rate was evident in all subgroups. Furthermore, length of stay during index hospitalization was directly associated with the likelihood of 6-month unplanned readmission (odds ratio for log-transformed length of stay: 2.39 [99% confidence interval: 2.31 to 2.47]).
Conclusions:
Readmission among patients with CLI is high, the majority of them being unplanned readmissions. Several demographic, clinical, and socioeconomic factors play important roles in predicting readmissions.
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