Association of Inpatient Opioid Utilization and Readmission Risk in Sickle Cell Disease

• Published in: Blood 2018-11, Vol.132 (Supplement 1), p.4699-4699
• Main Authors: Han, Jin, Saraf, Santosh L., Gowhari, Michel, Jain, Shivi, Molokie, Robert E., Gordeuk, Victor R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0006-4971; 1528-0020
• DOI: 10.1182/blood-2018-99-114733

Background: Vaso-occlusive crisis (VOC) is the hallmark complication of sickle cell disease (SCD). The majority of SCD-related healthcare costs in the United States, estimated at $2.4 billion annually, are attributed to frequent healthcare utilization due to recurrent VOC (1-3). Risk factors such as the prescription of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) only without opioids, older age, and steroid treatment have been identified to be associated with readmissions in pediatric SCD patients (4, 5), but limited data exist about potential predictors for readmission in adults (6). The impact of inpatient opioid utilization on readmission was evaluated in this study. Methods: Seventy SCD adults treated at the University of Illinois Hospital from 2012-2016 had at least one hospitalization for uncomplicated VOC that was followed by a 30-day readmission (30-DR) and at least one hospitalization without a 30-DR. One hospitalization with a 30-DR and one hospitalization without a 30-DR from each patient were used to form the discovery cohort (a total of 140 hospitalizations from 70 unique patients). Patient characteristics, inpatient laboratory values, outpatient daily opioid use before admission, and inpatient daily opioid use were collected from the electronic medical records, and the ratio of the last inpatient day opioid dose/home opioid dose before admission was calculated. Among the 70 patients in the discovery cohort, 22 patients had more than one hospitalization with a 30-DR. The additional hospitalizations with a 30-DR and matched hospitalizations from the same patient without a 30-DR were used to form a validation cohort (a total of 62 hospitalizations from 22 unique patients). A Wilcoxon signed-rank test was performed to compare the ones with a 30-DR to the ones without. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board prior to the initiation of chart review. Results: Among the 70 SCD patients identified, the median (IQR) age was 32.5 (25-44) years by the time of the first admission included in this cohort, and 67% were females, 76% were HbSS or Sbeta0 genotype, and 46% were on hydroxyurea before admission. The median (IQR) dose of daily outpatient opioids before the first admission was 170 (64-280) mg oral morphine equivalents (OME). When the hospitalizations without a 30-DR were compared to the ones with in the discovery cohort (Table 1), the ratio of last inpatient day opioid dose/home opioid dose was lower (1.5 vs. 1.9, p=0.024), wherea