• Karl Vaz, Katrina Tan, Melissa Chew, Jordan Crawford, Ronald Ma, Josephine Grace, Paul Gow, Marie Sinclair, and Adam Testro.
• Victorian Liver Transplant Unit, Austin Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
• Intern Med J. 2022 Dec 1; 52 (12): 208620952086-2095.

Background And AimsThe 30-day hospital readmission rate in cirrhotic patients has been demonstrated to be up to 40% in international studies, but is not well studied in Australia. The aim of the current study was to report on the rate and cause of 30-day hospital readmission from a single liver transplant referral centre, including a cost analysis of readmissions.MethodsThis was a retrospective study of consecutive cirrhotic patients admitted to a liver transplant centre in Victoria, Australia, between 1 January 2019 and 31 December 2019. Cases were identified through International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, 10 coding for cirrhosis and its complications. Baseline demographic data, liver-related complications and unrelated extra-hepatic comorbidities, laboratory values and prognostic scores were collected from the electronic medical record.ResultsOne hundred seventy-nine (63% men; median age at index admission, 59 years) patients who were admitted 427 times during the study period were included in the final analysis. The 30-day hospital readmission rate was 46%, with the majority of readmissions attributable to fluid overload (29%), miscellaneous reasons (27%) and infection (20%). One fifth of readmissions were considered preventable. History of variceal haemorrhage was found to be an independent predictor of 30-day hospital readmission. The annual cost of readmission is over AU$2.7 million and the median cost of hospital readmission was about AU$9000.ConclusionsThe 30-day hospital readmission rate of 46% is higher than previously reported and almost half of cases were caused by either fluid overload or infection.© 2022 Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

19 keywords...

hide…