Impact of Obesity on Readmission in Patients With Left Ventricular Assist Devices

Hospital readmissions have an adverse effect on the quality of life in patients with end-stage heart failure. We examined the temporal pattern, predictors, and outcomes of readmission in continuous flow left ventricular assist device-supported patients.

We retrospectively reviewed inpatient data of 350 consecutive patients who received a continuous-flow left ventricular assist device at our center between May 2004 and December 2014. A total time-restricted model was used to estimate hazard ratios for readmission, and the Nelson nonparametric method was used to estimate mean cumulative function for each cause of readmission.

The mean age was 57 ± 13 years, 82.6% received a HeartMate II (Abbott Laboratories, Chicago, IL), and 26.3% were destination therapy. The 30-day readmission rate was 21.7%, and 264 readmissions (41.1%) occurred within the first 6 months of support. The leading cause of readmission was bleeding (0.74 mean cumulative events per person), followed by infection (0.7), device failure (0.52), arrhythmia (0.3), and right heart failure (0.28) at 3 years. The number of readmissions did not have an adverse effect on survival (hazard ratio, 1.03; 95% confidence interval, 0.92 to 1.17; p = 0.58). Increase in each body mass index unit was associated with 1.029 times the rate of overall readmission (p = 0.041). Patients with a body mass index of 30 kg/m² or higher had increased readmissions for device failure (p = 0.008) and right heart failure (p = 0.03).

Readmission burden is highest during the first few months of continuous-flow left ventricular assist device support, but survival is not affected. Patients with an elevated body mass index are at increased risk for readmissions for device failure and right heart failure.