Table 2.

Summary of General Surgery Articles

First author	n	Data source	Study characteristics	Readmission %	Mortality of readmitted patients, %	Top 3 readmission diagnoses	Significant predictors of readmission on multivariate analysis
Blatnik (22)	< 1000	Institutional	Patients who underwent open or laparoscopic ventral hernia repair between 2005 and 2010	12.1% at 30 d	NR	1. Wound infection 2. Gastrointestinal 3. Hematologic 3. Cardiac	Open repair (vs. laparoscopic) Active abdominal infection Hernia defect size Presence of a fistula
Kassin (23)	1000– 10,000	NSQIP single hospital	Patients who underwent many different inpatient general surgery procedures between 2009 and 2011	11.3% at 30 d	NR	1. Gastrointestinal complication 2. Surgical Infection 3. Failure to thrive / malnutrition	Postoperative complication Procedure performed
Tuggle (24)	1000– 10,000	SEER- Medicare	Patients older than 65 with thyroid cancer who underwent thyroidectomy between 1997 and 2002	8% at 30 d	NR	NR	Comorbidity scale Stage: distant Length of stay Complication during index stay Hospital size: large* Post discharge physician visit*
Martin (25)	< 1000	Institutional	Patients who underwent a variety of open or laparoscopic abdominal general surgery procedures between 2009 and 2010	27.1% at 90 d	NR	1. Dehydration 2. Obstruction / Ileus 3. Abdominal abscess	NR
Down (12)	< 1000	Institutional	Patients who underwent elective or emergent laparoscopic cholecystectomy between 2006 and 2007	4.3% at 90 d	NR	1. Abdominal pain 2. Wound infection 2. Retained common bile duct stone	NR
Bisgaard (13)	1000– 10,000	National Patient Registry	Patients older than 18 who underwent umbilical or epigastric hernia repair between 2005 and 2006	5.3% at 30 d	NR	1. Wound related problems / complications 2. Seroma 3. Pain with negative clinical finding	NR
Sanjay (26)	1000– 10,000	Institutional	Patients who underwent elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy without intraoperative cholangiogram between 2002 and 2007	2.8% at 6 wk 4.3% at 1 y 5.7% at 2 y 6.4% at >2 y	NR	1. Non-specific abdominal pain 2. Obstructive jaundice 3. Peptic ulcer disease	NR
Helgstrand (27)	1,000– 10,000	National Patient Registry	Patients older than 18 who underwent elective ventral hernia repair in 2008	5.6% at 30 d	NR	1. Wound dehiscence or deep wound infection 2. Miscellaneous 3. Pain	NR

^*Protective against readmission on multivariate analysis.

NR, not reported.