Risk factors associated with the timing of hospital readmission in an underserved low socioeconomic population

OBJECTIVE: Compare risk factors of hospital readmission between 30-, 60- and 90-day readmission groups in a low socioeconomic population. METHODS: Secondary data obtained from the Epic Systems database management system for patients who experienced a 30-, 60- or 90-day hospital readmission between 2006 and 2013. Risk factors analyzed included sex, race/ethnicity, follow-up status, age, BMI, systolic blood pressure, body temperature and pulse rate. Records for 2191 low-income patients (µ age = 44.5 years; 72.5% female; 10.1% African American, 26.2% Hispanic, 63.7% White) from a central Texas acute health and primary care facility. RESULTS: The amount of time that passed between a patent's initial hospital encounter and a follow-up visit had an effect in predicting both 60-day (OR = 1.055) and 90-day (OR = 1.088) hospital readmission. Patient race/ethnicity had an effect in predicting 90-day readmission. Hispanic patients had a lower likelihood of being readmitted after 90 days than being readmitted after 30 days as compared with White, non-Hispanic patients (OR = 0.688). CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that risk factors identified at 30 days are similar to those at 60 and 90 days, with the exception of follow-up status and race/ethnicity.