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. 2023 Mar 10;6:e41936. doi: 10.2196/41936

Table 1.

Demographic and clinical information of admission-readmission pairs among Medicare beneficiaries with Alzheimer disease in 2018.


Total (n=28,946) Same-hospital readmission (n=24,952) Fragmented readmission P value



Same HIEa (n=601) Different HIEs (n=2105) No HIE (n=1288)
Age (years), mean (SD) 80.9 (8.6) 81.1 (8.6) 80.3 (8.7) 80.1 (8.6) 79.8 (8.4) <.001
Sex, n (%) .10

Female 16,163 (55.8) 14,004 (56.1) 329 (54.7) 1142 (54.2) 688 (53.4)

Male 12,783 (44.2) 10,948 (43.9) 272 (45.3) 963 (45.7) 600 (46.6)
Race, n (%) <.001

White 24,097 (83.2) 20,976 (84.1) 467 (77.7) 1644 (78.1) 1010 (78.4)

Black 3341 (11.5) 2692 (10.8) 111 (18.5) 335 (15.9) 203 (15.8)

Other 1508 (5.2) 1284 (5.1) 23 (3.8) 126 (6) 75 (5.8)
Urban/rural status, n (%) <.001

Metropolitan 25,110 (87.1) 21,641 (87) 526 (87.8) 1878 (89.5) 1065 (82.9)

Micropolitan 2748 (9.5) 2424 (9.7) 43 (7.2) 131 (6.2) 150 (11.7)

Rural 985 (3.4) 797 (3.2) 30 (5) 89 (4.2) 69 (5.4)
Frailty score, mean (SD) 0.20 (0.05) 0.20 (0.05) 0.20 (0.05) 0.21 (0.05) 0.20 (0.05) .45
Chronic condition count, mean (SD) 20.7 (6.2) 20.7 (6.2) 20.4 (6.0) 20.5 (6.3) 20.7 (6.2) .24
Reason for admission, n (%) <.001

MIb 2451 (8.5) 2047 (8.2) 57 (9.5) 209 (9.9) 138 (10.7)

CHFc 12,103 (41.8) 10,496 (42.1) 266 (44.3) 834 (39.6) 507 (39.4)

COPDd 3916 (13.5) 3405 (13.6) 76 (12.6) 266 (12.6) 169 (13.1)

Pneumonia 4716 (16.3) 4097 (16.4) 91 (15.1) 336 (16) 192 (14.9)

Dehydration 1311 (4.5) 1101 (4.4) 33 (5.5) 112 (5.3) 65 (5)

Syncope 459 (1.6) 364 (1.5) 13 (2.2) 54 (2.6) 28 (2.2)

UTIe 3954 (13.7) 3411 (13.7) 65 (10.8) 290 (13.8) 188 (14.6)

Behavioral issues 36 (0.1) 31 (0.1) 0 (0) 4 (0.2) 1 (0.01)
Reason for readmission, n (%) <.001

MI 651 (2.2) 516 (2.1) 29 (4.8) 63 (3) 43 (3.3)

CHF 6362 (22) 5584 (22.4) 125 (20.8) 405 (19.2) 248 (19.2)

COPD 1743 (6) 1551 (6.2) 27 (4.5) 97 (4.6) 68 (5.3)

Pneumonia 1376 (4.7) 1238 (5) 18 (3) 74 (3.5) 46 (3.6)

Dehydration 434 (1.5) 379 (1.5) 6 (1) 34 (1.6) 15 (1.2)

Syncope 132 (0.5) 111 (0.4) 4 (0.7) 9 (0.4) 8 (0.6)

UTI 936 (3.2) 838 (3.4) 8 (1.3) 55 (2.6) 35 (2.7)

Behavioral issues 7 (0.02) 6 (0.02) 0 (0) 0 (0) 1 (0.01)

Other 17305 (59.8) 14,729 (59) 384 (63.9) 1368 (65) 824 (64)
ICUf stay admission 8651 (29.9) 7483 (30) 153 (25.5) 603 (28.6) 412 (32) .02
ICU stay readmission 9727 (33.6) 8269 (33.1) 202 (33.6) 772 (36.7) 484 (37.6) <.001
Readmission hospital number of beds, n (%) <.001

<500 beds 21,789 (75.5) 18,909 (76.1) 401 (66.8) 1505 (71.7) 974 (76.1)

≥500 beds 7051 (24.5) 5953 (23.9) 199 (33.2) 593 (28.3) 306 (23.9)
Readmission hospital ownership, n (%) <.001

Government 2911 (10.1) 2483 (10) 63 (10.5) 204 (9.7) 161 (12.6)

Religious 3444 (11.9) 2997 (12.1) 67 (11.2) 260 (12.4) 120 (9.4)

Nonprofit 18,746 (65) 16,288 (65.5) 439 (73.2) 1271 (60.6) 748 (58.5)

For-profit 3724 (12.9) 3080 (12.4) 31 (5.2) 363 (17.3) 250 (19.5)
Readmission hospital type, n (%) <.001

General medical/surgical 28,612 (99.3) 24,799 (99.8) 582 (97.2) 2026 (96.8) 1205 (94.4)

Other 194 (0.7) 38 (0.1) 17 (2.8) 67 (3.2) 72 (5.6)
Readmission hospital was a teaching hospital 20,937 (72.6) 17,959 (72.2) 469 (78.2) 1640 (78.2) 869 (67.9) <.001
Died during readmission 1704 (5.9) 1459 (5.8) 29 (4.8) 130 (6.2) 86 (6.7) .38
30-Day postdischarge mortalityg 5667 (19.6) 4856 (19.5) 118 (19.6) 428 (20.3) 265 (20.6) .62

aHIE: health information exchange.

bMI: myocardial infarction.

cCHF: congestive heart failure.

dCOPD: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

eUTI: urinary tract infection.

fICU: intensive care unit.

gAmong beneficiaries who did not die during their readmission.