Assessment of thirty‐day readmission rate, timing, causes and predictors after hospitalization with COVID‐19

• Published in: Journal of Internal Medicine 2021-07, Vol.290 (1), p.157-165
• Main Authors: Yeo, I., Baek, S., Kim, J., Elshakh, H., Voronina, A., Lou, M.S., Vapnik, J., Kaler, R., Dai, X., Goldbarg, S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Creatinine; epidemiology; Hospitalization; Hypoxia; Original; patient readmission; readmission mortality; readmission predictor; Respiratory failure; Sepsis; Spline functions; Thromboembolism; Viral diseases
• ISSN: 0954-6820; 1365-2796
• DOI: 10.1111/joim.13241

Background There are limited data on the characteristics of 30‐day readmission after hospitalization with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19). Objectives To examine the rate, timing, causes, predictors and outcomes of 30‐day readmission after COVID‐19 hospitalization. Methods From 13 March to 9 April 2020, all patients hospitalized with COVID‐19 and discharged alive were included in this retrospective observational study. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify the predictors of 30‐day readmission, and a restricted cubic spline function was utilized to assess the linearity of the association between continuous predictors and 30‐day readmission. Results A total of 1062 patients were included in the analysis, with a median follow‐up time of 62 days. The mean age of patients was 56.5 years, and 40.5% were women. At the end of the study, a total of 48 (4.5%) patients were readmitted within 30 days of discharge, and a median time to readmission was 5 days. The most common primary diagnosis of 30‐day readmission was a hypoxic respiratory failure (68.8%) followed by thromboembolism (12.5%) and sepsis (6.3%). The patients with a peak serum creatinine level of ≥1.29 mg/dL during the index hospitalization, compared to those with a creatinine of