Trends in hospital readmissions and emergency room visits 60 days after robotic-assisted and laparoscopic hysterectomy

Abstract

ObjectiveHospital readmission after surgery is one of the major contributors to the increased healthcare cost. Robotic-assisted hysterectomy (RAH) is an innovative surgical procedure most commonly performed within the last decade. The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects on hospital readmission patterns and emergency room (ER) visits within 60 days of discharge for women who had RAH versus laparoscopic hysterectomy (LH) in an academic community hospital in Texas. MethodWe performed a retrospective study of women with RAH or LH. We used the univariate and multivariate logistic regression to examine the impact of patients' risk factors, the type of surgery, age, number of comorbidities, and duration of surgery on the 60-day hospital readmissions and ER visits. ResultsA total of 291 cases with RAH or LH for benign and malignant indications were examined. The number of comorbidities and duration of surgery were similar between the two treatment groups (p > 0.05). Patients in the RAH group were younger than the LH group (RAH: 45.4 ± 9.9 y, LH: 49.8 ± 11.5 y, p < 0.05). No significant difference neither in hospital readmission or ER visits between the two groups was observed (p = 0.544 and p = 0.109, respectively). Younger age and longer duration of surgery were significantly associated with a higher risk of ER visits (p < 0.05). ConclusionRAH is comparable with LH in hospital readmissions and ER visits. The younger age and longer operation time could lead to ER visits.