Hospital Readmissions Among Survivors Six Months After Myocardial Revascularization
- Babette Ann Stanton, PhD;
- C. David Jenkins, PhD;
- Richard L. Goldstein, MD;
- Thomas J. Vander Salm, MD;
- Michael D. Klein, MD;
- Roberta A. Aucoin, RN
- From the Departments of Medicine (Drs Stanton and Klein) and Behavioral Epidemiology (Dr Stanton and Ms Aucoin), Boston University School of Medicine, the Department of Medicine (Dr Goldstein), New England Deaconess Hospital, Harvard Medical School (Dr Goldstein), Boston, the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Worcester (Dr Vander Salm), and the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston (Dr Jenkins).
Abstract
One neglected but important measure of early morbidity after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) operations is rehospitalization. As part of a prospective study of recovery after elective CABG procedures conducted at four academic medical centers, data from all readmissions occurring within the first six postoperative months were collected for 326 patients. A total of 24% of patients had readmissions. The most common categories of readmission discharge diagnoses were cardiac (57%), noncardiac (26%), and surgical sequelae (17%). Factors from the initial hospitalization identified as risk factors for rehospitalization included: length of stay in intensive care unit after surgery, severe noncardiac complications, duration of preoperative cardiac symptoms, intra-aortic balloon insertion, and preoperative resting angina. These findings help to identify a subset of at risk patients for whom more careful surveillance might be beneficial.
(JAMA 1985;253:3568-3573)
Footnotes
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Reprint requests to Department of Behavioral Epidemiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Doctors Office Building, Suite 800A, 720 Harrison Ave, Boston, MA 02118 (Dr Stanton).
