Thirty-day readmission rates following hospitalization for pediatric sickle cell crisis at freestanding children's hospitals: risk factors and hospital variation

Background: Readmission within 30 days after hospitalization for sickle cell crisis was developed by The National Association of Children's Hospitals (NACHRI) to improve hospital quality, however, there have been few studies validating this.

Procedure: We performed a retrospective examination of 12,104 hospitalizations for sickle crisis from July 1, 2006 and December 31, 2008 at 33 freestanding children's hospitals in the Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) database. Hospitalizations met NACHRI criteria; inpatient admission, APR DRG code 662, age < 18, discharge home, and length of stay within 2 SD of the mean. We describe 30-day readmission rates, identify factors associated with readmission accounting for patient-level clustering and compare unadjusted versus adjusted variation in readmission rates.

Results: We identified 4,762 patients with 12,104 qualifying hospitalizations (1-30 per patient). Two thousand seventy-four (17%) hospitalizations resulted in a readmission within 30 days. Significant factors associated with readmission were age (OR 1.06/year, P < 0.0001), inpatient use of steroids (OR 1.48, P = 0.01) admission for pain without other sickle complications (OR 1.52, P < 0.0001) and simple transfusion (OR 0.58, P = 0.0002). There was significant variation in readmission rates between hospitals, even after accounting for clustering by patient and hospital case mix.

Conclusions: In a sample of free-standing children's hospitals, 17% of hospitalizations for sickle cell crisis result in readmission within 30 days. Older patients, those treated with steroids and those admitted for pain are more likely to be readmitted; simple transfusion is protective. Even after adjusting for case mix substantial hospital variation remains, but specific hospital to hospital comparisons differ depending on the exact methods used.