Objectives: Our primary aim was to find the incidence, causes, and factors responsible for late hospital readmissions.
Materials and methods: There were 185 patients included in the study. The patients were divided into 2 groups: those with late readmission after discharge and those with no late readmission. Inpatient records and charts were assessed for the medical status of the patients, cause of chronic kidney disease, comorbidities, vintage and modality of dialysis, and hospital admissions 3 months before transplant. Collected patient data included recipient age, sex, height, weight, body mass index, hepatitis C status, donor age, methods of immunosuppression and induction, duration of hospital stay, postoperative complications and secondary procedures, number, duration, and causes of hospital readmission after transplant, and methods of evaluation and management during readmission.
Results: There were 80 patients who received 127 late hospital readmissions. The most common cause of late hospital readmission was infection, which led to 45 admissions (35.43%). Of 45 admissions for infections, 18 were caused by urinary tract infections. Other reasons for admission were pneumonia (10 admissions), cytomegalovirus infection (11 admissions), and tuberculosis (6 admissions). The second most common cause of readmission was infectious or noninfectious diarrhea, which led to 29 admissions (22.88%). There were 28 late hospital readmissions (22.4%) for the evaluation or management of graft dysfunction. Newonset diabetes after transplant and febrile illness were causes of late hospital readmission in 8 cases each (6.9%), with 9 late hospital readmissions (7.08%) the result of other causes.
Conclusions: Incidence of late hospital readmission is high (43.2%), and the most common cause is infection, particularly urinary tract infections. Age of the recipient and early hospital readmission are predictive factors for late hospital readmission.