Abstract
Introduction: Watchman device is an alternative for anticoagulation in atrial fibrillation (AF) patients for stroke prevention but there is paucity of data on 30-day readmission trends and factors influencing it. Methods: We queried the 2016-2017 National Readmission Database for all adult AF patients, who had procedure done in January to November and discharged alive, using ICD10 code of 02L73DK. We divided the study population into deciles and used the annual procedure volume cut-off of 20 to compare the lowest volume decile with rest of the study population. Hierarchical multivariable logistic regression model was created to identify predictors of 30-day readmission and hospitals were included as random effect. Results: A total of 4565 and 9219 procedures were included for 2016 and 2017; respectively. Overall readmission rate was 1287 (9.3%) and of these 43 (3.3%) died on readmission. The 30-day readmission rate in 2017 was 906 (9.8%) compared to 381 (8.4%) in 2016 (p = 0.053) but the mortality associated with readmission was significantly higher in 2017 at 38 (0.42%) compared to 5 (0.11%) in 2016 (p=0.01). The proportion of patients with Charlson co-morbidity index ≥5 was significantly higher in 2017 at 1177 (12.8%) compared to 384 (8.4%) in 2016 (p <0.001). Annual procedure volume was a significant predictor of readmissions even after controlling for sex, co-morbidities and index-hospital complications (Figure 1). Septicemia (25.2%) and GI bleeding (17.9%) were the most common cause of readmission in patients who died and survived readmission; respectively (Figure 2). Conclusions: Thirty-day readmission rate and mortality has been increasing along with the procedural volume which could be related to patients with higher number of co-morbidities receiving the device. Lower procedural volume of the hospital is an independent predictor of readmission.
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