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Risk of unplanned emergency department readmission after an acute-care hospital discharge among geriatric inpatients: Results from the geriatric EDEN cohort study

The journal of nutrition, health & aging volume 20, pages 210–217 (2016)Cite this article

Abstract

Objectives

The study aims 1) to examine whether items of the brief geriatric assessment (BGA) or their combinations predicted the risk of unplanned emergency department readmission after an acute care hospital discharge among geriatric inpatients, and 2) to determine whether BGA could be used as a prognostic tool for unplanned emergency department readmission.

Methods

A total of 312 older patients (mean age, 84.6 ± 5.4 years; 64.1% female) hospitalized in acute care wards after an emergency department visit were recruited in this observational prospective cohort study and separated into 2 groups based on the occurrence or not of an unplanned emergency department readmission during a 12-month follow-up period after their hospital discharge. A 6-item BGA was performed at emergency department admission before the discharge to acute care wards. Information on incident unplanned emergency department readmission was prospectively collected by phone call and by consulting the hospital registry. Several combinations of items of BGA identifying three levels of risk of unplanned emergency department readmission (i.e., low risk, intermediate risk and high risk) were examined.

Results

The unplanned emergency department readmission was more frequently associated with a temporal disorientation (P=0.004). Area under receiver operating characteristic curves of unplanned emergency department readmission based on BGA items and their combinations ranged from 0.53 to 0.61. The best predictor of unplanned emergency department readmission was the temporal disorientation (hazard ratio>1.65, P<0.035), which defined the high-risk group. Inpatients classified in high-risk group of unplanned emergency department readmission were more frequently readmitted to emergency department than those in intermediate- and low-risk groups (P log Rank <0.004). Prognostic values for unplanned emergency department readmission of items and their combinations were poor with sensitivity below 67%, specificity ranging from 36.4 to 53.7, and positive likelihood ratio below 1.4.

Conclusions

The items of BGA and their combinations were significant risk factors for unplanned emergency department readmission, but their prognostic value was poor.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neuroscience, Division of Geriatric Medicine, UPRES EA 4638, UNAM, Angers University Hospital, 49933, Angers cedex 9, France

    C. P. Launay, A. Kabeshova, C. Annweiler & Olivier Beauchet

  2. Department of Geriatrics, EA 1156-12, Nantes University Hospital, Nantes, France

    L. de Decker

  3. Robarts Research Institute, Department of Medical Biophysics, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada

    C. Annweiler

Authors
  1. C. P. Launay
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  2. L. de Decker
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  3. A. Kabeshova
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  4. C. Annweiler
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  5. Olivier Beauchet
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Correspondence to Olivier Beauchet.

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Launay, C.P., de Decker, L., Kabeshova, A. et al. Risk of unplanned emergency department readmission after an acute-care hospital discharge among geriatric inpatients: Results from the geriatric EDEN cohort study. J Nutr Health Aging 20, 210–217 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-015-0624-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-015-0624-7

Keywords

  • Geriatric assessment
  • screening tool
  • rehospitalization
  • emergency department
  • older adults