Incidence and risk factors of 30-day readmission in neurosurgical patients

Abstract

AimThe 30-day readmission rate has become an important indicator of health care quality. This study focuses on the incidence of 30-day readmission in neurosurgical patients and related risk factors. Material and methodsA retrospective review was performed on patients treated in a neurosurgery department between 1 January 2012 and the 31 December 2013. Patients requiring readmission within 30 days of discharge and the readmission diagnosis were identified, and the factors related to their readmission were analysed. ResultsA total of 1854 interventions were carried out on 1739 patients during the aforementioned (study) period. Of the remaining patients, 174 (10.2%) required readmission within 30 days of discharge. The main causes of readmission were problems related to the surgical wound (21.2% of all readmissions), followed by respiratory processes (18.8%). A total of 73.9% of readmissions occurred in patients who had undergone cranial surgery. Multiple comorbidities estimated by Charlson comorbidity index and length of hospital stay were identified as factors related to a higher readmission rate. ConclusionsThe 30-day readmission rate observed in our series was 10.2%. Multiple comorbidity expressed by the Charlson comorbidity index and length of hospital stay were related to readmission.