hospital in Lilongwe, Malawi, we analyzed readmission patterns in the inpatient medicine wards. We described the prevalence of early readmissions, assessed factors associated with readmissions, and explored the impact of HIV/AIDS on readmission. Methods: We investigated the prevalence of and factors associated with all-cause early readmission using regression models with a log link and binomial distribution to estimate risk ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). A retrospective review of the medical ward database at Kamuzu Central Hospital was conducted between February and December 2013. Findings: There were 3547 patients with an index admission and 74.4% of these survived and were eligible for readmission: 48.1% female, mean age 40.8, 38.5% HIV-infected. The prevalence of early hospital readmission was 5.5%. Persons who were HIV infected were more likely to experience an early readmission (9.2%) than those who were HIV-uninfected (3.5%) or with an unknown HIV status (3.3%). Factors associated with 30-day readmission were being HIV-positive (RR1⁄42.59; 95% CI: 1.743.83), comorbidity (RR1⁄41.52; 95% CI: 1.11-2.06), and prolonged length of stay (14 days) at the index hospitalization (RR1⁄45.01; 95% CI: 2.38, 10.53). Interpretation: Targeting HIV-infected inpatients with comorbid conditions and longer index admissions may prevent early readmission and improve quality of care. Further investigation is needed to identify quality improvement initiatives. Funding: Kashmira Chawla is supported by the Doris Duke International Clinical Research Fellowship program and this work is supported by the University of North Carolina Center for AIDS research. Abstract #: 02CD005