Predictors, causes and outcome of 30-day readmission among acute ischemic stroke.

Background And Purpose: Readmission within 30 days of index acute ischemic stroke (AIS) after hospitalization increases the burden on patients and healthcare expense. The purpose of our study was to investigate predictors and causes of 30-day readmission after AIS and investigate hospitalization expenses, length of stay (LOS) and in-hospital mortality of 30-day readmission.

Methods: This is a multicenter retrospective study. AIS were captured by International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) diagnosis codes, patients with readmitted within 30 days after discharge were identified as readmission group. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify independent predictors of 30-day readmissions. Hospitalization expenses, LOS and in-hospital mortality were compared for index admission and readmission.

Results: We identified 2371 patients with AIS, 176 patients died before discharge, 504(23.0%) patients were admitted within 30 days. Older age, prior stroke, non-neurology floor during index admission, indwelling urinary catheter and diabetes were independently associated with increased risk of 30-day readmission (P<0.05). The most common causes for 30-day readmission were infection (28.8%) and recurrent stroke and TIA (22.8%). Patients with 30-day readmission have longer LOS and higher hospitalization expenses on readmission compared with the mean of these metrics on index admission (P<0.001). The in-hospital mortality after a within 30-day readmission was higher than index admission (13.1% vs 8.0%; OR 1.88, 95% CI 2.5-5.3; P<0.001).

Conclusions: Older age, stroke severity, prior stroke, diabetes, indwelling urinary catheter and admission to non-neurology floor during index admission were associated with 30-day readmission. 30-readmission after AIS increased hospitalization expenses, LOS and in-hospital mortality.