Cruz et al reported risk factors predictive of 30-day hospital readmission. These can help to identify a patient who may require more aggressive management. The authors are from the University of Pernambuco, Federal University of Pernambuco and Hospital de Restauracio Governador Paulo Guerra in Brazil.
Patient selection: adult > 18 years being discharged from the hospital.
Predictors of 30-day readmission:
(1) polypharmacy (>= 6 prescription drugs per day)
(2) malnutrition, measured by low calf circumference (< 34 cm in male; < 33 cm in female; OR 4.0)
where:
• Polypharmacy has an OR 0.19 in Table 3 from multivariate analysis. It has an OR 3.2 in Table 2. The text states that polypharmacy increases the risk of readmission. This suggests that the OR 0.19 in Table 3 is in error.
The risk of 30-day readmission increases with the number of risk factors present.
These are also predictors of frailty.
Polypharmacy can be used to infer comorbidity status.
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