Readmission after being hospitalized for COVID-19 and discharged was infrequent, an analysis of patients at a New York City-based health system shows.
Researchers examined data of 2,864 patients with COVID-19 who were treated and discharged from five hospitals within the Mount Sinai Health System between Feb. 27 and April 12.
Of the 2,864 patients studied, 103 (3.6 percent) returned for emergency care within 14 days of hospital discharge. Fifty-six of those who returned were readmitted to the hospital. The most common reason for return was respiratory distress (50 percent).
Compared with patients who did not return, there were higher proportions of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and hypertension among those who returned. Patients who returned also had a shorter median length of stay during their first hospitalization.
The researchers published their findings in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.