Diagnosis of Depression is Associated with Readmission Following Elective Pancreatectomy

Diagnosis of depression may be associated with adverse outcomes following surgery. The aim of this study is to investigate whether depression is associated with an increased readmission rate following elective pancreatectomy, which is currently unknown.

The 2014 Nationwide Readmissions Database was used to evaluate whether diagnosis of depression was associated with 30-day readmission following elective pancreatectomy in adult patients. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression models were adjusted for clustering by facility. A secondary analysis was performed to evaluate whether the risk of diagnosis of depression on 30-day readmission rates was modified by length of stay (median 8 days). All multivariate models were adjusted for patient-level characteristics.

There were an estimated 11,992 patients who underwent elective pancreatectomy. Mean age was 63 years, and 48.9% were male. Approximately 10.2% (n = 1223) had diagnosis of depression. Depression was associated with higher odds of 30-day readmission following elective pancreatectomy on univariate [odds ratio (OR) 1.26, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.01-1.59; P = 0.043] and multivariate analyses (OR 1.29, 95% CI 1.01-1.65; P = 0.039). Although length of stay > 8 days was independently associated with higher odds of 30-day readmission (P = 0.005), length of stay did not alter the association between diagnosis of depression and odds of readmission (P = 0.90).

Diagnosis of depression was associated with higher odds of 30-day readmission following pancreatectomy, regardless of length of stay. Enhanced focus on evaluation and optimization of perioperative mental health is warranted to identify patients at high risk for readmission and reduce the burden related to readmission following pancreatic surgery.