Nationwide Analysis of Hospital Admissions Prior to Hartmann's Procedure for Acute Diverticulitis.

Introduction: Diverticular disease is one of the most common gastrointestinal diseases that require hospital admission. This study aims to identify trends in prior hospital admissions for patients that ultimately require a Hartmann's procedure for complicated diverticulitis.

Methods: The Nationwide Readmissions Database for 2010-2014 was queried for all patients aged 18 years or older admitted with an ICD-9 code for colonic diverticulitis and end colostomy creation. Patients with prior hospital admissions were identified. The primary outcome was mortality after Hartmann's procedure. Secondary outcomes were prior hospital admission and previous percutaneous drain placement. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to control for confounding factors for each outcome and results were weighted for national estimates.

Results: There were 90,162 patients admitted with complicated diverticulitis requiring end colostomy creation. Prior hospital admissions were found in 28.1% (n = 25,307) and 14.4% (n = 12,947) had a previous percutaneous drain placed during a prior admission. The overall mortality rate was 5.9% (n = 5314) after Hartman's procedure. The mortality rate for patients with prior hospital admissions was 8.7% ( < .001), and the mortality rate for patients with previous percutaneous drain placement was 4.3% ( < .001). After controlling for confounding factors including comorbidities, patients with prior admission had an increased risk of mortality (OR 1.48 [1.40-1.58], < .001) and patients with previous percutaneous drain placement had a decreased risk of mortality (OR .66 [.60-.72], < .001).

Conclusions: Hospitalizations for complications of diverticulitis are a costly burden to our healthcare system. By identifying those patients at high risk for readmission and emergency surgery, perioperative outcomes may be improved.