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Patient health, discharge disposition correlated with return to hospital after TKA
Among patients who underwent primary total knee arthroplasty, return to hospital events correlated with the health of the patient and initial discharge disposition, but not patient length of stay, according to results.
Researchers identified 995 patients (65% were women) who underwent total knee arthroplasty (TKA) between January 2011 and July 2013. Using the Wilcoxon signed rank test for nonparametric variables and Fisher exact test for categorical variables, researchers compared length of stay, Charlson comorbidity score, history of deep vein thrombosis (DVT), discharge disposition and post-discharge emergency department events for patients with a length of hospital stay of 2 days or less vs. patients with a hospital stay of 3 days or more.
Among 128 patients with 154 unplanned return events within 90 days of index surgery, results showed as comorbidity increased, so did return events. After controlling for patient factors, such as age, gender, deep vein thrombosis and Charlson comorbidity score, investigators found patients who stayed no more than 2 days did not have an increased odds of readmission compared with patients who had a longer length of stay.
Investigators found Charlson comorbidity score and history of DVT were risk factors for return events. Return events were less likely to occur among patients who were discharged home, according to results, and more than half of the patients evaluated in the emergency department were not readmitted. – by Casey Tingle
Disclosures: Rossman reports no relevant financial disclosures. Please see the full study for a list of all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.