Unplanned readmission after outpatient laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background: Readmission after surgery has been considered as a measure of quality of hospital and surgical care. This study aims to investigate unplanned readmission after laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Methods: The NSQIP database was used to investigate 30 days unplanned readmission after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Multivariate analysis was used to identify predictors of readmission.

Results: We found a total of 117,248 patients who underwent outpatient laparoscopic cholecystectomy during 2014-2016. Of these 3315 (2.8%) had unplanned readmission. Overall, 90% of readmitted patients were discharged after one day of hospitalization. Pain (14.07%) followed by unspecified symptoms including fever, nausea, vomiting, ileus was the most common reason for readmission. After adjustment, factors such as renal failure on dialysis (AOR: 2.26, P < 0.01), discharge to a facility (AOR: 1.93, P < 0.01), and steroid use for chronic condition (AOR: 1.51, P < 0.01), were associated with unplanned readmission.

Conclusion: Overall, 2.8% of the patients undergoing outpatient laparoscopic cholecystectomy are readmitted to the hospital. Most of such patients are discharged after one day of hospitalization. Unspecified symptoms such as pain and vomiting were the most common reasons for readmission. Readmission strongly influences patients' comorbid factors and it is not a reliable measurement of quality of hospital and surgical care.