IMR Press / RCM / Volume 24 / Issue 11 / DOI: 10.31083/j.rcm2411326
Open Access Original Research
Rate, Timing, and Duration of Unplanned Readmissions Due to Cardiovascular Diseases among Hospitalized Patients with Cancer in the United States
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1 Health Outcomes Division, College of Pharmacy, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
*Correspondence: chanhyun.park@austin.utexas.edu (Chanhyun Park)
Rev. Cardiovasc. Med. 2023, 24(11), 326; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.rcm2411326
Submitted: 13 April 2023 | Revised: 13 July 2023 | Accepted: 27 July 2023 | Published: 23 November 2023
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cardio-Oncology: State-of-the-Art Reviews)
Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Abstract

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) can lead to unplanned care in patients with cancer, which may affect their prognosis and survival. We aimed to compare the rates, timing, and length of stay of unplanned CVD readmission in hospitalized patients with and without cancer. Methods: This study used the 2017–2018 Nationwide Readmissions Database to identify adult hospitalized patients with and without cancer. The primary outcome was 180-day unplanned CVD readmission rates. CVD was defined based on a composite variable that included atrial fibrillation, coronary artery disease, cardiomegaly, cardiomyopathy, heart failure, peripheral artery disease, and stroke. For patients readmitted due to CVD, the timing between admissions (based on the mean number of days between index hospitalization and readmission) and length of stay were further identified. Results: After matching, 300,398 patients were included in the two groups. The composite CVD readmission rates were significantly higher in patients with cancer (5.92% vs 4.10%; odds ratio (OR) 1.47, 95% CI 1.44–1.51, p < 0.001). Patients with cancer were also associated with shorter mean number of days to composite CVD readmission (60.48 days vs 68.32 days, p < 0.001) and longer length of stay of composite CVD readmission (8.21 days vs 7.13 days, p < 0.001). These trends were maintained in analyses of the individual CVD. Conclusions: Hospitalized patients with cancer experienced higher rates of unplanned readmission due to CVD, and their CVD readmissions occurred sooner and required longer lengths of stay compared to patients without cancer. Efforts to reduce unplanned CVD readmissions, such as providing optimized chronic post-discharge care, may improve the health outcomes of patients with cancer.

Keywords
readmission
cardiovascular disease
cancer
length of stay
Funding
Special Research Grants (SRG) from The University of Texas at Austin, Office of the Vice President for Research (VPR)
Figures
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