Readmission After Geriatric Inpatient Care: A Narrative Review and a Comparative Analysis

Readmission can be be related to the work of several stakeholders involved in the care of individuals throughout the community, including, for example, primary care and social care providers. A narrative review was performed to assess definitions and frequency of readmission for older adults found in previous research. In addition, a dataset for a cohort of older adults in Stockholm, Sweden, was used to quantify how different definitions of readmission affect frequency.

The review was based on pre-specified search criteria within PubMed and Embase databases. All studies based on a cohort of older adults with a primary objective to assess readmission to inpatient care, were included for the assessment of readmission criteria. The dataset was based on a cohort of older adults treated at a geriatric department in Stockholm during 2016. Estimations of readmission were performed with the most common criteria found in the narrative review.

The narrative review showed that definitions of readmission included predominantly time-based criteria, either alone or combined with additional criteria such as medical condition or readmitting department. Frequency of readmission based on different definitions varied substantially; a 14-day time interval implied a rate of 8.0% whilst a 30-day interval-more commonly used-rendered a rate of 12.6%. The density of readmissions per day was higher during the first weeks after discharge, and then dropped continuously.

Transparency on definitions is imperative in studies that include rates of readmission. The levels of readmission rates are highly dependent on the study population and its context. Furthermore, the actual value of readmission monitoring is dependent on what purpose it is supposed to fulfill, and it is essential to put it into context of all relevant stakeholders including, for example, the primary care providers and different social care providers throughout the community.