HealthDay News — A study published in Obstetrics & Gynecology suggests that patients undergoing hysterectomies for benign indications had a 30-day readmission rate of 2.8%, with most readmissions occurring within 15 days.
Courtney Penn, MD, from the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor, and colleagues performed a retrospective analysis to examine patterns of 30-day readmission after hysterectomy for benign indications, including all surgical approaches (abdominal, laparoscopic, and vaginal).
The researchers found that the 30-day readmission rate was 2.8%, and readmissions were seen for 3.7, 2.6, and 2.1% of abdominal, laparoscopic, and vaginal hysterectomies, respectively. Compared with a vaginal approach, readmissions were more likely when hysterectomy was performed abdominally (adjusted odds ratio, 1.45; 95% confidence interval, 1.2 to 1.76) but not laparoscopically (adjusted odds ratio, 1.1; 95% confidence interval, 0.9 to 1.4). Most readmissions (82%) occurred within 15 days of discharge.
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The shortest and longest median times to readmission (3 and 10 days) were associated with pain and noninfectious wound complications, respectively. The most common diagnosis was surgical site infection (36.6, 28.3, and 32.6% of abdominal, laparoscopic, and vaginal hysterectomies, respectively); surgical site infections, surgical injuries, and wound complications accounted for about half of all readmissions (51.5, 51.9, and 50.8%, respectively).
“Readmission reduction efforts should focus on early post-discharge follow up, preventing infectious complications, and determining preventability of surgical-related reasons for readmission,” the authors write.
Reference
Penn CA, Morgan DM, Rice LW, Harris JA, Rauh-hain JA, Uppal S. Timing of and Reasons for Unplanned 30-Day Readmission After Hysterectomy for Benign Disease. Obstet Gynecol. 2016. doi: 10.1097/ AOG.0000000000001599. [Epub ahead of print]
