Table 6: Hospital Readmission Results*.
| Number of Readmissions (%) |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Author | HaH | H | P Value |
| Cotton et al, 2000 (21) | 12 (29.3) | 12 (30) | NR |
| Davies et al, 2000 (20) | 37 (37)† | 17 (34) | NS |
| Ojoo et al, 2002 (22) | 12 (40.0)‡ | 13 (44.4) | NS |
| Aimonino Ricauda et al, 2008 (19) | 20 (38)§ | 34 (87) | 0.001║ |
| Shepperd et al, 1998 (15;18) | 8 (53) | 6 (35) | NS |
| Skwarska et al, 2000 (6) | 39 (32.0)¶ | 21 (33.9)# | NR |
Abbreviations: H, inpatient hospital care; HaH, hospital-at-home care; NR, not reported; NS, not significant; SD, standard deviation.
It is unclear from the study results whether the 37 patients readmitted to hospital included the 9 patients readmitted during the first 14 days after randomization or if it only includes patients readmitted after being discharged from hospital-at-home care. So as to not count these patients twice, it was assumed that the 9 patients were included in this total. The authors were contacted to confirm this assumption, but no response has yet been received.
While the trial reported only 10 patients (33.3%) in the hospital-at-home group, 2 patients in this group were readmitted to hospital due to clinical deterioration before being discharged from hospital-at-home care. The authors counted these patients as failures to complete the trial, although it would be more appropriate to count them as readmissions to hospital. As a result, they have been added to the 10 other readmissions reported in the table above.
While the published results reported only 17 patients being readmitted, this did not include the 3 patients in the hospital-at-home group who were readmitted not because of their own health but because of their caregivers’ failing health. As a result, 20 readmissions are counted in this analysis.
The reported P value is based on the comparison between 17 patients in the hospital-at-home group and 34 in the inpatient hospital group and does not take into account the additional 3 patients in the hospital-at-home group who were readmitted during the hospital-at-home treatment phase.
Of the readmitted patients, 12 were readmitted during the hospital-at-home follow-up period (9 for respiratory reasons and 3 for nonrespiratory reasons) and 27 were readmitted during the follow-up period after discharge from the hospital-at-home program (23 for respiratory reasons and 4 for nonrespiratory reasons). (6) Statistical significance was calculated only for readmissions after hospital-at-home discharge and before final follow-up; this comparison was not statistically significant.
All 21 patients were readmitted during the follow-up period after discharge from the hospital, 19 for respiratory reasons and 2 for nonrespiratory reasons.