FRIDAY, Oct. 29 (HealthDay News) -- In addition to having a chronic disease, many factors, including race, type of payer, depressive symptoms, and even body mass index (BMI), increase the risk of hospital readmission, according to research published online Oct. 12 in the Journal of Hospital Medicine.
Nazima Allaudeen, M.D., of the Veterans Affairs Healthcare System in Palo Alto, Calif., and colleagues studied factors leading to hospital readmission within 30 days of discharge. Overall, 17 percent of admissions were readmitted within this time period. African-American race, Medicaid payer status, high-risk medication use, and certain comorbidities (congestive heart failure, renal disease, cancer with and without metastasis) were associated with an increased risk of readmission.
In the second study, Alison M. Mudge, of the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital in Australia, and colleagues assessed 142 patients who had two or more recent hospital admissions. In addition to chronic disease, extremes of BMI were also strong readmission predictors, with 72 percent of underweight patients and 50 percent of obese patients readmitted. Depression was also associated with a high risk for readmission.
"Nutritional status and depressive symptoms are emerging as important modifiers of disease course and mortality in the setting of several chronic diseases; this study also supports their potential contribution to increased hospital resource consumption in a high-risk group," Mudge and colleagues conclude.
Abstract - Allaudeen
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Abstract - Mudge
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