Identifying high-risk hospitalised chronic kidney disease patient using electronic health records for serious illness...

This study aimed to identify risk factors that are associated with increased mortality that could prompt a serious illness conversation (SIC) among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD).

The electronic health records of adult CKD patients admitted between August 2018 and February 2020 were retrospectively reviewed to identify CKD patients with >1 hospitalisation and length of hospital stay ≥4 days. Outcome measures were mortality and the duration of hospitalisation. We also assessed the utility of the Cohen's model to predict 6-month mortality among CKD patients.

A total of 442 patients (mean age 68.6 years) with median follow-up of 15.3 months were identified. The mean (standard deviation) Charlson Comorbidity Index [CCI] was 6.8±2.0 with 48.4% on chronic dialysis. The overall mortality rate until August 2020 was 36.7%. Mortality was associated with age (hazard ratio [HR] 1.51, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.29-1.77), CCI≥7 (1.58, 1.08-2.30), lower serum albumin (1.09, 1.06-1.11), readmission within 30-day (1.96, 1.43-2.68) and CKD non-dialysis (1.52, 1.04-2.17). Subgroup analysis of the patients within first 6-month from index admission revealed longer hospitalisation stay for those who died (CKD-non dialysis: 5.5; CKD-dialysis: 8.0 versus 4 days for those survived, P<0.001). The Cohen's model demonstrated reasonable predictive ability to discriminate 6-month mortality (area under the curve 0.81, 95% CI 0.75-0.87). Only 24 (5.4%) CKD patients completed advanced care planning.

CCI, serum albumin and recent hospital readmission could identify CKD patients at higher risk of mortality who could benefit from a serious illness conversation.