A study, published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, examined the most common reasons and risk factors for hospital readmissions among patients with diabetes.
Researchers conducted a retrospective analysis of data from the OptumLabs Data Warehouse, an administrative dataset of commercially insured and Medicare Advantage beneficiaries across the country. They studied adults with diabetes discharged from a hospital between Jan. 1, 2009, and Dec. 31, 2014. They analyzed 594,146 initial hospitalizations.
Here are five insights:
1. The study shows the all-cause 30-day readmission rate was 10.8 percent.
2. Heart failure accounted for 5.5 percent of initial hospitalizations and 8.9 percent of readmissions.
3. Severe dysglycemia accounted for 2.6 percent of initial hospitalizations, of which 48.1 percent were hyperglycemia cases and 50.4 percent were hypoglycemia cases.
4. Severe dysglycemia also accounted for 2.5 percent of readmissions. The severe dysglycemia cases comprised 38.3 percent hyperglycemia cases and 61 percent hypoglycemia cases.
5. Younger patient age, severe dysglycemia at initial or prior hospitalization and the Diabetes Complications Severity Index were the strongest risk factors predisposing patients to severe dysglycemia as compared to other readmissions.